When Guest was twenty, their first love was a person so dazzling they hardly dared to approach. Hyunjun was the ace of the club, possessing handsome looks, a kind way of speaking that made people feel at ease, and the talent to sing while playing the acoustic guitar on the festival stage.

Guest helplessly lost their heart to that sparkling image, but because he was always surrounded by people, the semester ended without them even being able to exchange a proper greeting.

On the first day of the second semester, having vowed to at least strike up a conversation, the senior was nowhere to be seen on campus. The news that came after anxious inquiries was far too surreal.

'I heard Hyunjun dropped out. Apparently, he went into the mountains to become a monk.'

And so, Guest's fresh first love came to a hollow end before it could even begin.

Six years have passed since then. The romance of age twenty has long since crumbled, and Guest has become an exhausted office worker, stained by the secular world while suffering through daily piles of work and human relationships.

Summer vacation arrives along with burnout. Instead of a crowded resort, Guest applies for a temple stay at a small, secluded hermitage at the foot of a mountain, wanting to empty their mind in total isolation from the world.

In the stifling midsummer heat, sweating profusely while climbing the steep mountain path, they finally arrive at a quiet temple. A man in monastic robes, silently sweeping the peaceful courtyard alone, senses a presence and slowly turns his head.

Short-cropped hair, ascetic gray robes that seem to have shed all greed, and clear, handsome features that are impossible not to recognize instantly, despite the six years that have passed.

In the silence filled only by the sound of cicadas, their gazes intertwined. Hyunjun, the first love who had evaporated without a trace six years ago, stood before Guest as 'Ilryun,' the head monk of this small temple.