Chapter 213: Starting Our Relationship From Zero!

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A heavy silence lingered.

It was only natural.

After all, the relationship between the person sitting in front of me and myself could be seen as something close to that of a malicious commenter and their victim.

I didn’t mind it at all, but from their perspective, it must have been different.

That was probably why they avoided my gaze whenever our eyes met, as if fleeing.

In a way, that made me feel a little sad.

Yes, what they did was wrong, but it seemed like they were carrying far too much guilt over it.

“To explain the situation… Jang Ji-won applied to be a second-generation member of Blue LUV. The results were quite good, and personally, I had already marked her as a likely candidate for acceptance.”

“Wow, really?”

“Huh? M-me, really?”

The silence was soon broken by the CEO’s words, and both of us reacted with surprise.

Ji-won seemed to have never expected her name to be on the acceptance list.

Her eyes widened, and she stared at CEO Kang with a dazed expression, too stunned to speak.

“But before the interview ended, Ji-won confessed. She said she was someone who had wronged you, Lulu.”

“Ah…”

So that’s how it was.

From Ji-won’s perspective, it must have been like a burden weighing on her heart.

No matter how much she apologized to me, she probably couldn’t just brush it off and move on as if nothing had happened.

She’s a good person.

Regardless of what she did back then.

At her core, I believed she was a good person.

“So I had to think about it. Lulu, you know this too, but our company has no intention of hiring people with problematic personalities. If you remember the questions we asked during interviews, you’d know, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

Posts on social media that caused issues, past behavior—our company was very strict about those things.

There’s a saying about not scratching at wounds, but fundamentally, CEO Kang’s stance was: “A person with a flawed character is less worth nurturing than someone lacking skill.”

“In a way, Ji-won falls under that category. But the difference is, she’s already been forgiven by you—the person directly affected.”

“But you thought that wasn’t enough, right?”

Given that the CEO had called me here, I could guess their intentions.

Carefully reading their thoughts, I posed the question, and she nodded.

“Exactly. To be honest, back then, I even considered filing a lawsuit after watching your stream. But since you brushed it off so casually, I thought it’d be unnecessary for me to step in, so I dropped it.”

“Y-you almost went that far?”

“Of course. How dare they write such things about our—ah, sorry.”

I hadn’t expected them to have considered legal action, so I asked in surprise.

CEO Kang’s voice grew heated, her words turning sharp for a moment before they caught themselves and stopped.

Ji-won frantically waved her hands.

“N-no, it’s my fault. I’m just grateful you even let it slide.”

With those words, Ji-won bowed her head deeply.

Even now, she must have felt too guilty to speak easily.

No matter how many times I told her it was fine, it probably didn’t mean much to her.

“Anyway, that’s why I wanted to pass the decision to you, Lulu.”

“Eh? M-me, the decision…?”

“Yeah. I know it might feel like I’m dumping this on you, but… I’ll leave Ji-won’s fate in your hands. Forgiveness and working together are two different things, after all.”

Ugh, suddenly I’ve been handed an unreasonable burden.

But CEO Kang had a point.

No matter how many times I said I forgave her or that it didn’t bother me, the person hearing it might think I was just saying it to avoid making things awkward.

Besides, it wasn’t like we’d met under good circumstances.

The idea of becoming colleagues and working together might still feel uncomfortable.

That’s why CEO Kang left the decision to me.

Whether Ji-won should be accepted as a second-generation member or not.

“Mmm… Then, can I ask Ji-won something first?”

“Y-yes! Of course.”

“What was the reason you wrote those things back then? Ah, I’m not trying to scold you now. It’s just… looking at you, you seem like a really good person. So I was a little curious why you wrote that.”

“Well, actually…”

She glanced at me hesitantly, fidgeting with her hands on the table before finally meeting my eyes with effort.

Her voice was quiet but clear as she spoke.

“I wasn’t as well-off as you, Lulu… My family situation wasn’t great. So mentally, I wasn’t in a very stable place. Then I saw your donation post.”

“You can keep going.”

“Right. So when I read it, I felt something like… resentment, I guess? It welled up inside me. ‘I’m barely keeping myself afloat, so why is someone who’s been in a similar position worrying about others?’ That’s what I thought.”

I nodded calmly at Ji-won’s honest answer.

I think I understood what she meant.

Her tweet back then had contained similar sentiments.

Ji-won called it resentment, but it might have been closer to confusion.

You know how there are people like that, right?

People who aren’t living lavishly themselves but still go out of their way to help others.

I’m not on the same level as those truly kind souls, but to Ji-won, I must have seemed frustrating in the same way.

“Why don’t you just take care of yourself first?”—that might have been how she felt.

And since it overlapped with her own struggles, it made her angry.

So she ended up writing that post on impulse.

“But when I went on stream to apologize, hearing your words made me realize something. ‘There really are people in the world who can love others this much.’ It had nothing to do with financial wealth. I finally understood how narrow-minded my thinking had been.”

“No, not at all. Actually, back then, even CEO Kang tried to stop me at first. They said my heart was in the right place, but maybe I should wait until I was more stable.”

“That’s right.”

CEO Kang let out a small laugh, seemingly remembering that time.

Though on stream, it was framed as if they’d happily supported the donations from the start, the truth was they’d initially tried to dissuade me.

But when they realized I wouldn’t budge, they relented.

Thanks to that, I was able to do something good.

And I’m still doing it now.

“In a way, I think it’s natural Ji-won felt that way. To some people, it might seem like, ‘Why go that far?’ It’s not just Ji-won—I’m sure there are others in the world who’d think the same.”

Of course, my fans were happy and praised me for doing a good thing.

But even in the chat back then, there were quite a few Cherries who were worried.

Since many of them knew about my family situation, some gave me practical advice, saying I should wait until I was more secure before donating.

But the reason I kept doing it wasn’t just because I wanted to do something kind.

It was because my life now was already more than enough to satisfy me.

So I wanted to share even a little of that overflow with the people around me.

Unlike truly kind people who split even the smallest things to share, I was just giving away what I had leftover.

That’s why I’ve never thought of myself as a good person.

“Anyway, thanks to the conversation I had with you back then, Lulu, the way I see the world changed a little. Seeing how hard you worked, I wanted to follow your example—so I got my first job and worked at a company… Lately, I’ve even been volunteering a bit at a nearby orphanage.”

“Wow, really? That’s amazing…”

“N-not compared to you, Lulu. It’s just something to do on weekends when I’m free—playing with the kids, that’s all.”

Ji-won waved her hands dismissively, but I still thought it was incredible.

If she’d only started working at a company after that incident, it couldn’t have been very long.

She must have been exhausted from work, wanting to rest on weekends—yet she still made time to volunteer.

It just proved again that she was, at heart, a good person.

“Honestly, I thought applying to be a second-generation member was something I shouldn’t even consider. Even if I’ve changed now, the fact that I—someone who said those things to you, Lulu—dared to apply to Blue LUV… I thought it’d be shameless.”

“But then, I kept remembering how you looked at the birthday café event a while ago. You were shining so brightly—it was the first time I ever thought, ‘I want to be someone like that.’”

“So I applied on impulse. Honestly, I didn’t even expect to pass the first round. But when the acceptance notice came, I hesitated. I wondered if I should just give up this opportunity.”

She must have agonized over it a lot.

It wasn’t just guilt weighing on her.

She was standing at a crossroads—whether to abandon the first real dream she’d ever had or to pursue it.

“But then, my brother said something. ‘If you give up recklessly here, what about the people who got eliminated because of you?’ So I made up my mind. I decided that, at the very least, I’d confess everything during the interview. Even if it meant failing, I wouldn’t regret it.”

As she spoke, Ji-won’s gaze held unwavering resolve.

Even if I outright rejected her here and now, declaring I didn’t want to work with her—

Her expression said she could smile without a trace of regret.

I see.

Yeah, I get it now.

This wasn’t just about avoiding future complications for Blue LUV.

Even if she failed here and remained just a fan, she wanted to face us properly.

That took real courage.

“…So, in that spirit, let me apologize one more time. I’m truly sorry, Lulu.”

She stood up and bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle, her head staying lowered for a long time.

Watching her, I made up my mind.

Of course, you can’t know everything about a person from just one meeting.

There’s a saying: “You can fathom ten feet of water, but not one foot of a person’s heart.”

But even so, I wanted to trust my instincts.

“It’s okay, Ji-won. You’ve been through a lot. And…”

I stood up and carefully extended my right hand, encouraging her to lift her head.

When Ji-won’s eyes widened at the gesture, I couldn’t help but laugh softly.

“Let’s get along from now on. Junior.”

“Ah—!”

But I didn’t try to hide my smile.

Greeting my first junior properly, I watched as Ji-won reached for my hand, then froze, bowing her head again.

Plip—plip—

Hot tears splashed onto the table, and CEO Kang silently handed her a tissue.

Maybe, through those tears, all the lingering resentment and bitterness between us was finally washing away.

That thought crossed my mind suddenly.