Chapter 52: You didn’t think I was cheating, did you?

“I understand the situation.”

I stood up, using the excuse of refilling my drink, and headed to the kitchen. It was a short time, but enough to gather my thoughts.

“So are you coming tomorrow then?”

Dasom shook her head as I put down the coffee cup.

“Next Friday. From what you said, it seems like you’ll be there for about a week…”
“I see.”

There was a fork in the road.
One path stretched out straight and clear, but the other, not only veering off to the side but also entangled with trees and vines, looked daunting at a glance.

But in the end, it was the same; I couldn’t know what lay at the end of either path.
Then…

I gulped down my coffee and spoke.

“Alright, I’ll do it. I’ll be your boyfriend.”

The air grew still, and a silence fell between us. I spoke again to Dasom, who was staring blankly at me, her lips parted.

“So let’s go home for today. Don’t you have to work tomorrow? You brought your car, right?”
“Uh, yeah…”

I opened the designated driver app and made a call, then helped Dasom to her feet.

“Unni, he’ll be here in 15 minutes, so let’s go out and wait. Here, grab your bag. I’ll bring your clothes over once they’re dry. And Ha… no, Oh Yeoreum, you stay here. I have something to tell you.”
“Yes, of course.”

Han Yeoreum replied with a sigh and then started picking at the fruit on the plate with a nonchalant expression.

“Unni, let’s go.”
“W-Wait!”

Dasom, who had been led by my hand, stopped abruptly.

Frantically rummaging through the handbag slung over her shoulder, she soon took out a thick envelope.

“Ah, here, you have to take this… Um, it’s not enough, is it? I’ll withdraw more from the bank tomorrow.”

The envelope was filled with yellow bills.

“Unni.”
“Ah, I-I-I-I’m sorry. That’s not it, right? Here, you can hit me as much as you want.”

Dasom, who had held out her right cheek and muttered those chilling words, soon jumped up as if she had snapped back to reality.

“R-Right. If I hit you with my fist, your fist will hurt, Dojin. Wait a minute! Just wait a minute. Knuckles, where did I put my knuckles…”

I grabbed the wrist of Dasom, who was frantically rummaging through her handbag with a pale face.

“Can’t I just… do it for free?”
“H-Huh?”
“Do I have to take something to be able to help you?”

Dasom’s movements stopped abruptly. I gently pulled her hand out of the handbag.

Perhaps from being scraped against various things, the back of her hand was a faint red.

“The thought I had when I heard you earlier.”
“…”
“You must know what it is.”

She wasn’t the type to come to me without thinking about it. In fact, she probably came now because she had thought about it too much.

I took out the first-aid kit and applied ointment to the back of her hand as I continued.

“But you still came.”

Dasom, who was crushed by a guilt so strong that she had sent dozens of letters of apology, slapped her own cheek, and crushed her fingernails, came to me, of all people, to lean on.

“I think it’s natural to want to help when I see you like that.”
“…That can’t be true. Not you, Dojin, to me.”
“Well, I can’t help it if you feel that way.”

There was an unresolved conflict between us. There was no point in appealing to emotions without resolving that.

“Still, it’s more convincing than saying my heart was moved by money.”

Material compensation could move one’s body, but not one’s heart. And Dasom, more than anyone, would know what the end of a heartless relationship was like.

I carefully applied a bandage to the back of her hand and added.

“First, let’s think about how to put out the fire. We can sort out the rights and wrongs after that.”

The car ride back was silent. After getting out of the car, Dasom just said she was sorry and quickly went inside the villa.
Although she had come to ask for help after much thought, she seemed confused now that she had heard I would help.

Persuading her would be my job from now on.

I sat down on a gazebo in a nearby playground, closed my eyes for a moment, and listened to the pattering sound of the rain.
Then, I took out my phone and made a call.

“Hello.”
“Oppa, what’s up all of a sudden? Did you leave something behind?”

Hearing her lovely voice over the phone, I felt my cluttered mind clear up a little.
I barely managed to swallow the laughter that was about to burst from my lips and continued.

“Can’t I call you without a reason?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if I’ll get in trouble if I say I called because I wanted to hear your voice, Garyeon.”
“No, th-that’s, what are you suddenly saying…”
“You can’t?”
“Th-That’s not it…”

I chuckled and opened my mouth.

“Sorry, I have something I want to talk to you about. Are you busy right now?”

I told Yu Garyeon everything that had happened with Dasom earlier.

Yu Garyeon, who had been listening to my story with a serious expression, spoke as soon as I finished.

“Don’t tell me you refused?”
“No, I said I’d do it.”
“Good job! Yes, that’s really good. I’m so glad.”

I was speechless for a moment at her incredibly straightforward answer.

“But what was it you wanted to talk to me about? I don’t think there’s anything to consult about in the story you told me…”
“Ah, that’s. That.”

As I hesitated, Yu Garyeon spoke first.

“…Don’t tell me you called to get my permission? Because it feels like you’re cheating otherwise?”
“…It would be a lie to say that’s not it, right?”
“Oppa!”

Yu Garyeon shouted, as if angry, from the other end of the line.

“I told you. I’m not qualified to be your girlfriend yet. And I wouldn’t be happy at all if we became one now. You should be pouring all your attention into Dasom unni right now, why are you worrying about such strange things? Did you think I would be happy?”

“That’s right. Sorry, I know, but I was just frustrated.”
“…Well, it would be a lie to say I wasn’t happy at all.”

Yu Garyeon cleared her throat a few times and continued.

“Oppa, what if the person who stayed with you on the island that day was Dasom unni, and the person asking you for help now was me? What do you think Dasom unni would have said?”

Yu Garyeon paused for a moment and then spoke again.

“I’m sure she would have said the exact same thing I did, without changing a single word.”

I couldn’t deny it.

“So please do your best to help her. I’ll do what I can from my side.”
“Okay.”

Yu Garyeon sighed in relief at my words.

“Um… I’m sorry for getting angry earlier. Actually, I was happy. That you relied on me.”
“You might get sick of it soon. I’m going to be relying on you a lot from now on.”
“I’ll be waiting with open arms.”
“Okay, sleep well.”
“Yes, you too, oppa.”

After ending the call, I stretched once and got into a taxi.

****

“Yeah.”

Han Yeoreum yawned with a indifferent expression at my words.

“You asked me to stay just to say that?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Making a big deal out of nothing. You really have to give it to him for being so dramatic.”
“Dramatic?”
“Dojin plus overreacting.”
“…Where did you learn that word?”
“MeTube.”

Han Yeoreum, who replied while shaking her phone, stood up abruptly.

“If there’s nothing else to talk about, let’s eat. You haven’t had dinner either, right?”
“Yeah. Is there anything to eat?”
“Jeyuk bokkeum and dakgalbi. I bought them because they were on sale.”
“What about rice?”
“I put it on a while ago.”
“Good.”

I brought over a pot and placed it on the gas stove.

“What are you doing?”
“You made the rice, so I should do the grilling.”
“If you put it that way, you did everything when you came last time, so I’ll just do it this time.”

I casually spoke to Han Yeoreum, who was waving her hand as if to shoo me away.

“If anything happens, make sure to call me. Don’t suffer alone.”
“Ah, yes, yes. I’ll take care of it, so stop nagging, Mom.”
“If you were that kind of kid, Mom wouldn’t have to say this.”
“Yeah, I have someone else to talk to now besides you. Don’t be so smug.”

Han Yeoreum’s tone was strangely drawn out, which felt incredibly annoying.

I forgot about continuing the role-play and instinctively spoke.

“…If you keep talking back to me like that, I’m going to limit your MeTube usage time.”
“Yeah, try it. I’ll just do a factory reset.”

That day, I installed a smartphone addiction prevention program on Han Yeoreum’s phone. A paid program that wouldn’t be erased even with a factory reset.