Seungyoon looked at the ordinary-looking old man standing right in front of him. "Yuelao doesn't look like this."

"Indeed, I didn't. But times have changed now, you know. I can't walk around in modern Korea in ancient Chinese clothing."

"What about the book?" Sera asked, careful not to offend the old man.

"I have this now." Yuelao flashed his iPad. "This is more convenient."

"Just now you said that you have been looking for us as well? What does that mean?" Minho asked.

"The red threads of the three of you were a mistake. I was careless and accidentally connected your red threads in this way, I am so sorry." Yuelao said with a sad look in his eyes.

"Can you change the red threads, or something? Can you attach my red thread to someone else's?" Minho enquired.

"No, I can't do that, everyone else's red threads are settled, unless I connect your red thread to a newborn baby's." Yuelao offered.

"No!" Minho immediately rejected it. "But thanks, for the kind offer," Minho added, in case he sounded too rude.

"Okay, Mr Yuelao, here's what we came to find you for. I met Seungyoon first, and I feel that he's the right one, and so does he." Sera took Seungyoon's hand in hers and squeezed it tightly, as though she would lose him if she loosened her grip.

"I can see that." Yuelao interjected.

"We met Minho afterwards, and it was only then that my second red thread appeared." Sera glanced at the red thread between her and Minho. "What does that mean?"

"It means that your connection with Seungyoon is stronger than your connection with Minho. If you were to never meet Minho, he would never have found his soulmate, and you would never have the second red thread. But the three of you were fated to meet anyway."

"So Minho is Sera's soulmate as well?" Seungyoon asked.

"Yes he is, though you are, to put it simply, more suitable than he is."

"So Sera and Seungyoon are supposed to be together." Minho looked at Seungyoon who has enveloped Sera's hands in his, protecting her from the cold. "And I have to be alone." Minho thought about his broken family. He visited his mother sometimes, and his father sometimes. It was at least peaceful now, but his childhood was a past he would never want his children to relive. "What if in future my wife and I become like my parents? I don't want my kids to suffer under two people who fight everyday because they aren't soulmates."

"Your parents were soulmates. Their red threads were connected, you just don't know it because you haven't had the chance to see them together after you could see red threads. You see, they were soulmates and yet they didn't put in the effort to make their relationship work. Finding your soulmate doesn't guarantee you a life of sunshine and rainbows." Yuelao patted Minho's shoulder. "On the other hand, many couples who aren't soulmates are happily in love though they may not be the most suitable person for each other. Every relationship is a reflection of fate and effort. To be happy, you have to put in the effort. If you find someone whom you find worthy putting in effort for, go for it."

"Will I be able to find someone I love?" Minho shuffled his feet uncertainly.

"Of course you will." Sera smiled. "I promise you that you'll be able to find someone you love one day."

The three of them felt equal parts confused and equal parts clear after the confrontation with Yuelao. It was clear that the relationship between Sera and Seungyoon would remain unchanged, same for the relationship between Minho and Sera. Minho, however, was confused about the fact that his parents could not get along despite being soulmates.

Out of the three of them, Seungyoon understood most clearly the implications of a marriage between two people who were not soulmates. He would do everything he could to prevent a tragedy of that sorts from happening again.

As for Sera, she did not want to risk an unhappy marriage and provide her children with a broken family. She wanted a happy family, and she felt that with Seungyoon, she will be able to achieve that.

Minho thought about the women whom he had pushed away simply because of the lack of a common red thread between them. On retrospect, he probably could have gotten along well with some of them. Yet he chose not to, out of the fear that stemmed from his childhood. Now he knew though, that his unhappy childhood was not a result of parents who weren't soulmates. It was a result of parents who were unable to make their relationship work out.

Song Minho, let's draw your own fate. Minho thought, determined to make happiness in his own terms.

"Why isn't she here yet?" Minho heard a female voice as he neared the entrance of Half-moon Friends on the way home.

"Yoomin, where's your mum?" Came the voice again. "Gee, she's always late." The voice got louder as Minho got nearer.

She must be the kindergarten teacher, Minho thought. As he got nearer, he could make out the silhoutte of a female of average height holding the hand of a small child.

"Sorry I'm so late!" The boy's mum appeared from another path, hurriedly took the boy's hand and apologised to the teacher.

"Please try to come on time. Yoomin misses his mum, right?" The teacher patted Yoomin's head.

Minho glanced at the kindergarten teacher.

"Harin?" Minho recognised her as his seatmate in high school.

"Huh?" The teacher squinted at Minho under the dim lighting of the flickering street lamps. "Oh, are you Song Minho?"

"Yeah I am! Fancy seeing you here, I thought you hated kids." Minho walked nearer to her. "The math teacher brought her kid to school once and you cringed when he cried—"

"While throwing up!" Both of them finished and laughed. "I did, but people change. I remember you used to be way chubbier." Harin laughed. "What do you do now?" She asked.

"I'm a comic artist." Minho smiled.

The street lamps flickered again and went out.

"Oh, not again. They really need to fix it properly once and for all." Harin groaned.

"This happens often? It's so dark here though, that's dangerous." Minho asked.

"Yeah, sometimes I have to walk the kids out to the main street just to make sure they don't get kidnapped or something."

"What about you? No one walks you home?" Minho asked, but what he wanted to find out was actually if she was attached.

"Yeah, no one. Would you like to walk me home then?" Harin asked jokingly.

"Sure, why not? Always good to catch up with an old friend." Minho smiled.

Love may be 50% effort, but it is 50% fate too. And because of the broken street lamp, Minho got the 50%.