Netkama Punch!!!

‘This bastard lost his mind!’

It happened before I could stop him. The guy Shin Heejae kicked had a popcorn bucket in his hands, and thanks to the recoil, popcorn went flying everywhere.
Startled, the man turned around with a shocked expression.
“What the…”

He half-turned in his seat, clearly flustered, but Shin Heejae didn’t even blink as he said, cool as ever:
“You’re blocking the screen.”
As if he hadn’t just kicked the seat. His tone was so calm and detached that even I, who had seen the whole thing, started to second-guess what I’d witnessed. The guy who turned around seemed equally unsure of how to react. He glanced between Heejae and me, unsure who to confront.

“You’re blocking the screen,” Heejae repeated, this time in a cocky, laid-back drawl. The guy’s face twitched in anger, but he clearly noted that Heejae was taller and more built. Above all, Heejae’s brazen stare seemed to sap some of the fight out of him.
“…Fuck it,” the guy muttered under his breath, barely audible, and turned back to face the screen. His friends kept glancing back at us, but none of them said a word.
Meanwhile, every time the guys in front turned around, I sat frozen in dread, afraid a fight would break out.

‘It’s three against one… fuck. Are we gonna get our asses kicked?’
This asshole dodged the question when I asked if he could fight, so where the hell was this confidence coming from?
Did he seriously count me as part of his backup?

‘I'm not helping you, dumbass.’
I shot him a side glance while secretly working out an escape plan in my head.
Crunch. Even in the middle of all this, Shin Heejae leaned back lazily and picked popcorn from the bucket in my hands, popping it into his mouth. And he kept tapping the back of the seat with his foot. I didn’t even realize it at first until the guy in front started turning around with a murderous expression.

‘This lunatic. What the hell is he thinking?’
I watched Heejae with growing panic, sure we were seconds away from a fistfight.
He blinked lazily at the screen as a bluish glow flickered across his face, looking almost bored, until he noticed me watching him. Then he turned his eyes to me, expressionless.

I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. His gaze swept over me in a way that made me momentarily forget how to breathe.
“Fuck’s sake…”
That’s when the guy in front muttered a low curse, like a warning. Heejae slowly turned away from me to look down at him.
I got a bad feeling and didn’t even have time to stop him—

THUD!
He kicked the seat again, hard.
“Goddamn it!”

The guy sprang to his feet like a jack-in-the-box and glared down at Heejae.
“I saw him kick it!”
“Me too.”

His buddies ratted on Heejae in hushed voices, trying to stay out of it. The man snapped and shouted:
“What the fuck is your problem?! Why are you kicking my chair?!”
He was so worked up he started stammering. I could feel the attention of everyone in the theater turning to us.

But Heejae didn’t flinch. He just looked up at the guy and said flatly:
“Your big-ass head’s blocking the screen.”
“You motherf—@&^%#$!”

The guy sucked in a sharp breath and let out a string of curses so fast and shaky it was impossible to make out what he even said.
‘You crazy son of a—!’
I grabbed Heejae’s arm and pressed it down to stop him from standing up. I had no intention of being dragged into a police report as a witness in a theater brawl.

“Hey, quit it…!”
Just as I was about to stop him, one of the girls who had been sitting a seat away from the noisy guys suddenly snapped.
“Oh my god, shut the fuck up! Is this your first movie ever?”

“Eunjung, calm down…”
“He’s just loud as hell! What, is he trying to dub the whole movie or something?”
“Let it go… just once, okay?”

Her friend tried to soothe her, clearly afraid the commotion might blow back on them. But then, even more people from a few rows down started chiming in.
“Are you watching this movie alone or what?”
“Why are you standing up like that?! Sit down!”

The criticism was all directed at the guy who was now standing and making a scene. He beat his chest in frustration.
“Hey! This guy—!”
“Get out.”

“Can someone call an usher?”
“Sit down already!”
“Sit!”

But the more he stood his ground, the worse the atmosphere got.
In the end, he slumped back into his seat, clearly seething, and after a moment of stewing, he stomped out of the theater altogether. His friends shot us a few glares and then followed him out.
“…Phew.”

The moment they were gone, I let out a deep sigh. And then I had the overwhelming urge to smack Shin Heejae upside the head for blinking innocently like he hadn’t just caused all of that.
‘Are you out of your goddamn mind?’
I mouthed the words at him, but he just shrugged like he was blameless. Then he calmly took my hand that had been holding his arm down and laced his fingers through mine.

‘Aren’t you gonna let go?’
I tried pulling away, but with everyone in the theater quiet again, I didn’t want to draw attention with a struggle.
Heejae turned toward me, leaning in so close his lips nearly brushed my ear. I flinched, but he didn’t stop.

Then he had the audacity to whisper:
“You said I could hold your hand for ten minutes.”
“…”

“All the annoying assholes are gone now. No one’s watching.”
Wait… is that why he picked a fight?
I was too dumbfounded to say anything.

While I sat there stunned, Heejae leaned his head onto my shoulder. I tried shrugging him off, but he just melted further into me. If this kept up, he’d end up yanking me into his lap over the damn armrest.
I hated it. But honestly, there was no way I could push this psycho off with my strength alone. So I just sat there stiff as a board, praying none of the people in front of us turned around, and watched the movie with a knot in my gut.
* * *

Wham wham wham—!
As soon as the movie ended and we got back to the car in the parking lot, I unloaded on Shin Heejae the moment we sat down. I pounded on him with all the rage I’d bottled up for the past hour and a half, and he finally caught my wrist after a couple solid hits.
“Seyoung, that actually hurts.”

“Die!”
I twisted my hand to go for another hit, but Heejae, shameless as always, started defending himself.
“Come on, I told you we should’ve just rented the whole theater.”

“What the hell does that have to do with anything, you lunatic?!”
“I’m saying, this is what happens when we’re around other people.”
He had the nerve to act like it was my fault for not letting him book the entire theater. I lost it.

“It’d be fine if you weren’t there!”
Even with me yelling in his face, Shin Heejae just gave me that fox-like grin and said:
“Be honest, those guys in front were pissing you off too, right?”

“You piss me off the most.”
Even my sharpest sarcasm didn’t wipe that stupid smile off his face. Instead, he leaned in.
“Wh—!”

I immediately pulled back—his face had gotten way too close. But instead of trying to kiss me or anything, he just reached over and pulled my seatbelt across with a click, buckling it for me like some cheesy drama character.
And then, out of nowhere, he laid his cheek against my chest.
He nuzzled against me, then looked up like he was trying to gauge my [N O V E L I G H T] reaction.

Then, in a weirdly cutesy voice that didn’t suit him at all, he said:
“Seyoung noona. Don’t be mad, okay? Or… do you wanna watch another movie? I swear I’ll sit there and shut up.”
I could tell he was watching my mood, trying to act all submissive now.

It made me feel… weird. He’d acted like a total maniac, and now he was playing innocent.
“…Forget it. I’m hungry.”
The anger that had flared up all the way to the top of my head slowly fizzled out.

Somehow, this bastard always seemed to know the exact moment when I was about to truly get fed up with him—and that’s when he’d start pretending to behave. And the worst part was… it actually worked.
It made me hate myself a little. So I gave his forehead a loud flick.
‘Crafty little bastard…’

Maybe sensing that I’d calmed down, Heejae giggled and looked even more cheerful than before. He finally leaned away from me and asked:
“What do you wanna eat? My treat.”
“…Chicken?”

“Ugh, chicken again?”
Heejae gave me an exaggerated look of disgust, and I smacked his lips with the flat of my hand. That finally shut him up—he puffed out his cheeks instead of snarking back, and finally started the car.