1 1: The Dating Agency Of Red Strings

"What time is it...?" A boy asked to himself. He held a red umbrella over his shoulder, as if he expected an incoming rain to pour in the next five minutes. He was surrounded by a mysterious aura while he stood behind the fences of a public park. The people who walked past him found him extremely remarkable -- a handsome young man in his early 20's, who seemed like he was waiting for something to happen. His skin was as pale as the snow of winter. His brown, messy hair almost covered his thick, furrowed eyebrows. His eyes stared down to the golden watch on his wrist. He wore a uniform that looked like the ones donned by elites: a white dress shirt underneath a black vest with red linings. On the right chest pocket where his heart would he, there was an insignia; it was a Celtic love knot with a company name, "The Dating Agency Of Red Strings", written below it. A red necktie formally bound around his collar. His perfect features made the female passerbys jealous of whoever it wad that he was waiting for.

But he wasn't in the park for a date. Atleast, not HIS date.

"Client is in-position." He murmured while he watched a tall adult enter the scene, walking towards the swing area of the playground. The man carried a jacket over his arms, but he didn't plan to wear it anytime soon. It was part of the plan. The boy took out his phone and dialed a number. After a few rings, someone picked up from the other side. "Bogum? Can you hear me?"

"Your voice is as clear as an unpolluted ocean, Yejunnie!" The recipient of the call, Bogum, answered enthusiastically. He sat by a bench near a five-star restaurant named Golden Garden, pretending to read a newpaper. He wore the same uniform, but due to his height being shorter than Yejun, his neatly buttoned vest looked more like a sweater. His short, bushy hair was dyed in blonde with an orange-ish hue, highlighted in the sunset of the afternoon now drowning in darkness.

The boy, Yejun, almost rolled his eyes at the loudness of Bogum's voice. "How's the girl?", he asked, and he heard the latter laugh nervously. "She's walking out of the restaurant now. Crying, unfortunately! She really thought her date stood her up..." Suddenly, the skies started to grow darker, and a thunder roared from above. "Perfect, it's going to start raining!" Bogum cheekily exclaimed, before he made a hand gesture over another young man who stood against a red taxi, relaxed. He had the disguise of a simpleton -- a youthful, charming driver. As attractive as the first two, he smiled in confidence when the distraught girl noticed him. His hair was a darker shade of brown, combed neatly, parted on the left side of his head. She was so distracted with his appealing features that she didn't notice the insignia on Tae-Oh's make-shift driver's uniform, neither did she see the unusual color of the taxi.

"Tae-Oh is going to pick her up... now!" Bogum cued, as Tae-Oh approached the weeping woman who stood outside the restaurant, waiting for a ride home. She was the love interest of their client. "Miss, the rain is about to pour. Let's hurry...", he said as he assisted her in his cab. "Ah...", she sniffled a bit before proceeding to talk. "...Thank you! By the way, you resemble a man in TV!" Once the woman got in, Tae-Oh pressed a button in his earpiece. "Yejun-ah, we're on our way to the park. Tell Mr. Choi to get ready..."

His message reached Yejun, who continued to walk towards their client who sat on a swing. "Mr. Choi, Tae-Oh informed me that he and Ms. Francesca are on their way. Do you remember what to do?" He asked while opening his red umbrella to cover himself from the incoming rain shower. The man sighed, before nodding in a nervous manner. "Y-yes. I'm ready."

"Good...", Yejun resumed the call. "Mr. Choi is ready. Proceed as planned."

"Got it...", Tae-Oh smiled, before peeking at Ms. Francesca who continued to sob in the backseat. "Miss, will it be alright if we stop-over for a bit?" He politely asked. The woman stopped crying for a while. "H-huh? Why?" She questioned, wiping her tears with a handkerchief. "I'm running low on gas. I will just refill for a bit, and we will be good to go! You can walk around the park for a while, I'll call you when the taxi's good." His smile was mixed with some sort of magic, which charmed Ms. Francesca successfully. "A-alright...", she nodded, before she got out of the taxi. Tae-Oh quickly contacted Bogum. "Hey, you unlucky fool. Make it rain."

"Tch, yeah, I know...", Bogum set down his newspaper and walked over to the hostess of the restaurant. "Can I make a reservation?" He smiled, and the hostess swooned over him as quick as the lightning struck from the cloudy skies.

In the public park, the rain poured heavily in an instant. "Huh?! Why is it suddenly--?!" Before she could complain, Ms. Francesca tried to look for Tae-Oh, but he was no longer there, neither was the taxi. "Where did he go?!" She cried out, before trying to find shelter from the rain. When she has settled down under the park's central oak tree, she looked at herself, her reflection on the screen of her dead phone. Her tears trailed down along her cheeks, mixing with the shine of the falling raindrops. But suddenly, the pouring water stopped from where she sat.

"Huh?" She stopped crying for a second, before she looked up to what was protecting her from the strong shower. A jacket being held by a tall man drenched in rainwater. It was Mr. Choi. "Choi Minhyuk? What are you...? You're soaking!"

"I'd rather not have you get sick, Nina...", he spoke in a gentle voice that comforted Ms. Francesca ultimately.

And in Yejun's eyes, it was a success. A single red thread connected their pinky fingers. The Red String of Fate that only he can see. It showed how his client and the girl were meant to be together, and in this scenario, their hearts have began beating in unison.

Ms. Francesca stood up and hugged Mr. Choi under the view of the oak tree. The operation was finished. The clouds began to dissipate from the night sky and the rain stopped pouring, and Ms. Francesca couldn't believe how it worked, but it happened. She quickly found love in Mr. Choi when the stars enchantingly appeared like the rain didn't happen at all.

"Would you look at that..." Tae-Oh commented, watching the new couple exchange romantic glances at one another. He had his disguise over his shoulders, and he now wore his agency uniform. "...after she bawled her eyes out crying behind me, I didn't think she'd move on that quickly." Yejun just stared at the two, before nodding in silence. Tae-Oh spoke again to cover up his friend's speechlessness. "What about the other guy, though? Did he intentionally not show up in the date? I don't think you two ever mentioned anything to me about the him..."

"Bogum made his car break down on the way..." Yejun replied, nonchalantly. Tae-Oh almost dropped his clothes in shock, before composing himself to give Yejun a quick look of disbelief. "Wait, so he does want to date her?" He retorted, and Yejun nodded. As Yejun watched the results of his work, he closed his umbrella and placed his hands on his back in a scholarly manner. "The two of them are not for destined to be for eachother, so why bother?"

"Still, isn't it too harsh?" Tae-Oh reasoned, and Yejun just shook his head. "It isn't harsh if it's for what's right...", he replied, before his phone rang. It was Bogum.

"How were the lovebirds?" He laughed. He sat in a table-for-three inside the restaurant, placed by the windows. "Operation was a success, Mr. Choi will now accompany Ms. Francesca home...", Yejun replied, he observed how Mr. Choi held Ms. Fransesca's hand as they walked down the stone pathway together. "Darn, being a matchmaker is so depressing! When will we get girlfriends? We're wasting our good looks...", Bogum joked around as he watched the foggy mist blur out the glass of the windows. The three matchmakers were still young, their ages ranged from 19 to 23. As much as girls swarmed all over them, they were gifted to be experts in love. Bogum and Tae-Oh loved the attention, they would go on dates with their common fangirls but never in a serious relationship. Yejun is an expert in compatibility, so he doesn't fancy anyone, at all. Atleast, not yet. He lifted his hand, and Tae-Oh caught him staring at it. "You okay there?" He asked. Yejun sighed in frustration, before nodding.

"By the way, I made a reservation at Golden Garden. Mr. Cupid wouldn't know a thing. Let's celebrate another job well done!" Bogum cheered, before cutting the call. He knew that Yejun was a workaholic, so he would surely decline. He raised a hand for the waiter to notice. "Waiter!"

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Golden Garden was a prestigious restaurant in Seoul, South Korea. It had the highest class of staff members and the wealthiest customers to serve. But everyone had their eyes on the three charismatic matchmakers who sat by the window, eating a selection of meals fit to feed a country. Everyone knew who they were, and their uniforms were enough to prove that they were the real deal. They were The Dating Agency of Red Strings' top stars. It was a company of matchmakers, ready to assist everyone in love and marriage with gifted abilities to do the job perfectly. The three boys were the highest above all matchmakers. Everyone loved their presence, and everyone loved who they loved because of their excellent skills in love. People would sneak pictures of them, while the three tried to ignore them all.

"At this point, Mr. Cupid would really know...", Tae-Oh sighed. Bogum laughed it off and joked a bit about their boss. "The old man will be jealous. We're eating out without him!" He relaxed his back against his seat before taking another bite out of his grilled pork belly strip. Yejun stayed silent throughout the meal, before his two friends noticed how quiet he was. "Hey, Yejunnie, why are you so quiet? You're scaring the happy atmosphere away!" Tae-Oh said, before swatting a non-existent insect away from the grilled meat infront of Yejun, just to grab his attention. "I'm always quiet." The serious one replied, before crossing his arms. "Nah, man. You're thinking about something. What's up?"

Yejun slowly lifted his hand, and raised his pinky finger. "There's..."

"There's... a red string tied around my finger right now."