episode_0016

What on earth had happened?

In the end, the man just went back home as is.

Was he afraid of reporting to the police?

Seeing him leave like that, I thought about grabbing him, but then I pondered if I could catch him next time anyway.

Right now, it seems better to calm down Jiwon before dealing with that person, so I headed towards Jiwon.

As I approached Jiwon, he smiled as if nothing had happened and checked my face.

“Oh my. Your already shitty face looks even shittier now.”

Is he trying to pick a fight?

I wanted to give him the same wound right away, but now wasn’t the time for that.

Jiwon didn’t seem to be hurt, but upon closer inspection, his hands were trembling.

While his expression remained unchanged, his hands were shaking.

I felt somewhat sorry, but…

“Why are you here?”

My question was why this guy was here.

Jiwon doesn’t even attend this university, so I was puzzled about why he came here in the first place.

To that, Jiwon looked at me, smiling, and said, “They said it would rain tonight, so I came to lend you an umbrella. Also, I wanted to see the university.”

Ah, that’s what it was.

Feeling somewhat guilty for possibly calling him here, I just wanted him to go back now.

But since the police might arrive soon, I suggested we go back together if they come for questioning.

“Oh, it’s fine. The police won’t come.”

“What do you mean? You just reported it.”

“I just pretended to report it so that jerk would get scared.”

I don’t know what to say to this guy.

To think he would pull such a stunt just to scare someone, it’s a bit surprising.

So, I suggested we have lunch together while he was here and decided to leave Jiwon in the nearby practice room.

He said he would stay quiet until the lecture ends and work on his laptop.

When I returned to my seat, people around me seemed worried.

Some were concerned about my reddened cheek, while others commented that I must have gotten into trouble.

I don’t know what I did wrong to deserve this.

First, I need to find out the reason after the lecture ends.

After the morning lecture ended and I packed up, I called Jiwon.

He asked me to wait a bit, grabbed his things, and came outside.

I couldn’t say anything about what he had been up to personally, so I kept silent.

Jiwon, who had come out with his bag, started looking at my bruised cheek.

“Ouch… You got hit pretty hard.”

“Why is it still red?”

“No, it’s turning purple now.”

It’s just a bruise, you know.

Seems like I really got hit hard.

After school, with the thought of reporting immediately, I asked Jiwon to point out the injured area.

“But why did you get hit earlier?”

“I’m not exactly sure… But…”

“It’s probably because of Seonga noona.”

One hypothesis that came to mind during the lecture was that Seonga spread false rumors.

She must be irritated by the fact that we broke up.

I couldn’t say anything about this part.

But even though we broke up properly, I want to clarify that I didn’t harass or abandon her.

However, in terms of connections or as a person, I couldn’t beat Seonga.

People would believe Seonga rather than me.

“If you knew this would happen, you should’ve built some connections.”

“Even in high school, you only had me as a friend. Can you build connections now?”

Jiwon’s words weren’t wrong.

That’s why it’s even more frustrating.

Yes, I’ve been friendless since high school anyway.

Thinking like that, we went to have lunch together.

At least eating something might calm me down.

“Hey, I want to go check out that place over there.”

Jiwon mentioned a place he wanted to try, so we decided to go check it out.

Pointing at McDonald’s, have you never tried it before?

I used to know places like Lotteria and Mom’s Touch.

Come to think of it, there was no McDonald’s.

Thinking that if it’s quick and convenient to eat, McDonald’s wouldn’t be bad, I headed there with Jiwon.

And as we entered McDonald’s, inside…

“Oh… Seong-ah noona?”

Inside, Seong-ah noona was ordering at the kiosk.

Why do we have to meet here?

We just broke up the day before yesterday, so it feels awkward.

What should I say?

Does it even matter? We’ve already broken up.

Just ignore her and choose what to eat…

“Jihu! I want to try this!”

Jiwon pointed at the Big Mac, expressing her desire to try it.

Is she really something? Even if we met last time, it’s definitely awkward.

Seeing her choose a menu without any hesitation makes her seem like she doesn’t know me at all.

So, we ordered two Big Mac sets and sat down.

I wanted to quickly finish eating with Seong-ah noona.

Seong-ah noona slowly approached us.

Soon, she started sitting at the table next to ours with her friend.

Why sit uncomfortably here?

Let’s just move to another table.

“Customer number 4157, your order is ready.”

After confirming the order number being called, I told Jiwon to go get it.

“Why don’t you just go get it yourself?”

“I won’t.”

“Fine…”

Reluctantly, Jiwon got up from her seat.

As she got up and suggested moving to another table to eat, Seong-ah noona, who was originally seated nearby, stood up and moved to the table next to ours.

Why keep changing seats and making it inconvenient?

This is annoying enough for me to lose my temper.

I thought about whether it’s okay to get angry, but in the end, I couldn’t say anything and just ate the hamburger, fearing it might inconvenience Jiwon.

But maybe Jiwon isn’t ignoring me; perhaps she genuinely doesn’t recognize me.

She’s been acting like she doesn’t know me since earlier.

Should I ask her once?

“Hey, are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“Seong-ah noona is right next to you.”

Upon my words, Jiwon slightly turned her head to the side.

“Oh…”

Now I understand. She wasn’t pretending not to know; she genuinely didn’t recognize her.

“No, I really didn’t know. I almost have prosopagnosia. If I don’t see someone often, I can’t recognize them properly.”

It felt like such an exaggerated novel setting, but since she said that…

“Let’s eat quickly and leave.”

Jiwon agreed to my suggestion and finished her Big Mac in three bites.

I said let’s eat quickly, but that’s too fast.

So, I picked up the tray to clear up and tidy things.

I thought we could just leave now, but…

“Hey, Kang Ji-hu, wait a moment.”

I wondered why she wasn’t catching up, but of course, she did.

I had already settled the bill quietly.

I held Jiwon’s hand gently.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

We nodded at each other and opened the door of McDonald’s and ran out.

“Hey!!! Wait!”

She wasn’t someone I wanted to converse with anyway.

Plus, considering my current mood, I might end up hitting her if we talked.

So, for now, I chose to run away rather than ask questions.

When we’re alone later, I’ll ask why she spread such rumors.

And so, I went back with Jiwon to attend the afternoon classes.

**

We ate burgers and returned to school.

“Damn. I’m exhausted.”

Jiwon, already finding it hard to run due to her chest, begged to stop running.

She’s asking me to stop, but how can I…

“And… It hurts because it’s chafing.”

What does she mean by hurting from chafing? I looked at Jiwon.

In response, Jiwon grabbed her chest area and said, “Didn’t wear a bra?”

“Yeah… It feels stuffy.”

Crazy, I bought the exact size that fit perfectly last time.

That means those big ones are still growing, huh.

“Sigh… My head is starting to hurt.”

“I’ll have to go back to school later and get some rest in the restroom.”

Upon hearing my words, Jiwon nodded.

If I don’t take a break, it’s going to get worse, I thought to myself.

“Hey, put this on.”

I handed Ji-won the cardigan I was wearing.

“Why this…?”

“Well… because it might pop out, you know… that.”

As I said that and pointed at the neckline, Ji-won blushed, thanked me for the cardigan, and put it on.

Whether there was a hidden meaning or not, my head was throbbing, but returning to the classroom was a priority.

Arriving at the practice room, I left Ji-won behind and finished preparing for the afternoon lecture.

During the afternoon class, there weren’t many people bad-mouthing me, as if the rumors hadn’t spread much.

Thinking it was somewhat okay, I listened to the lecture for a while.

“Hey! A goddess has appeared in the practice room.”

In the practice room… There shouldn’t be anyone there now, calling someone a goddess…

“Hey, she’s amazing, should we go talk to her?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to the male voices.

Surely they must be talking about Ji-won.

Even though I’m not into guys, honestly, she is pretty even in my eyes.

That’s why those words still bother me.

Our social outcast Ji-won would probably run away if someone approached her…

Thinking like that makes me increasingly anxious…

This won’t do.

Let’s go check it out ourselves.