Ch.285IF Side Story: From the Beginning (53)

“Come on, sit down.”

I patted the floor and said.

“Oh, okay.”

Pang Pang sat down somewhat cautiously.

Ah, but thinking about it, this isn’t my home.

Strictly speaking, rather than having a home, I eat and sleep at the orphanage. I could call that place home if I thought of it that way, but at least for me, it also meant I didn’t have a separate place to visit during holidays and stay throughout the break.

Well, if I were to marry someone, things would be different. …But that probably won’t happen. My sexual orientation was in a somewhat ambiguous position for marriage in this country.

Anyway, let’s put aside such irrelevant stories.

Good. Right now, it was about Pang Pang.

It seems like I hadn’t seen her face for just about a week, but Pang Pang’s demeanor had changed quite a bit.

“What’s wrong?”

When I asked Pang Pang who had taken a seat, Hayun poked my arm with her finger.

“Jieun, no matter what, that’s too abrupt…”

Ah, I see.

I had just recently experienced various unreasonable things. So my blood must have been rushing to my head.

It makes me angry to think that someone around me might be experiencing similar injustice.

At this point, I wonder if I’m not a magical girl of hope but rather a magical girl of anger, but my circuit is still running, so I’m still in the category of hope.

“Did something happen?”

I asked again with a softer tone, but ultimately it was still an urgent question. I scratched my cheek.

“Well…”

Pang Pang was lost in thought for a while. She seemed to be contemplating whether she should talk about it.

I looked at Pang Pang for a while, then rummaged through the plastic bag I had brought.

I took out some snacks I had bought as appetizers, and pulled out an energy drink containing 100mg of caffeine and opened the can.

“Here.”

And I handed it to Pang Pang.

Originally, people tend to become more honest when they lose a bit of their rationality. Pang Pang was like that too.

Although Pang Pang quickly became friends with us not long after we first met, thinking back, we saw Pang Pang drunk from our very first meeting.

So perhaps it could be said that it was the result of letting something go from the beginning.

Hayun and I aren’t old enough to drink alcohol, but isn’t that better? It means there are two people who can take responsibility.

…Come to think of it, even if drinking is legal in another country, getting drunk is another story. Perhaps Pang Pang had some worries from the time we first met her.

Some worry that required her to calm her mind by drinking something equivalent to alcohol every day.

If that worry has finally erupted, even if we can’t solve it, we can at least listen. That’s what friends are for.

Pang Pang took the drink I offered and sipped it.

It takes some time for the intoxication to set in. Hayun and I stared at Pang Pang’s face for a while.

…

Come to think of it, we just came to hang out, but it turned into an interrogation of Pang Pang.

I rummaged through the plastic bag again and pulled out another energy drink and opened it. Then I handed it to Hayun. Hayun smiled as she took it, as if she understood why I handed it to her.

I opened a bag of snacks and spread them on the floor, and I also took out a can of coffee and opened it.

Right. There’s no need to force an answer. Pang Pang will talk when she wants to. They say talking makes you feel better, but sometimes there are things you regret saying after you’ve said them.

Well then, what should we talk about? I’d like to start with something trivial.

A conversation that’s not too serious, something we can have casually.

That would be good, right?

When I looked at Hayun, she nodded with a smile, as if she understood what I meant by looking into my eyes.

“You know, on the way here, I saw a nice-looking cafe that just opened—”

Hayun gently initiated the conversation. Indeed, Pang Pang likes places like cafes.

Not that she likes them as cafes as we think of them, they were much closer to bars. Anyway.

*

As the atmosphere warmed up with various conversations, Pang Pang finally began to open up about her concerns.

“My boss at work— is such a jerk.”

That’s what Pang Pang said.

I know that Pang Pang doesn’t work at a fixed place. At least it’s not an office job. From what I heard last time, she works at various construction sites.

I thought it wasn’t a job for someone our age, but then again, Pang Pang is an alien. She’s stronger than Earthlings. That’s only when dealing with Earthlings who don’t use circuits, though.

Well, not all Earthlings carry circuits anyway. Rather, those with circuits are a minority. And most of those circuits were still essentially test items.

Alien manpower was helpful in that sense.

“Last time, I ended up figh—”

“You fought?”

I asked with a bit of surprise, but Pang Pang shook her head.

“I, I almost fought— I almost delivered a dropkick to that face. Like a professional wrestler.”

A dropkick.

Don’t people usually just think about punching someone? Grabbing them by the collar and hitting them hard with a fist. How angry must one be to imagine a dropkick?

“Well…”

Pang Pang was about to say something in response to that question but closed her mouth.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

She said with a slightly slurred speech, as if she was getting tipsy.

“Why? Did they do something weird?”

“Something weird? Well, kind of similar.”

I frowned.

If it’s something weird that she can’t tell her friends about, wouldn’t it be a serious crime? I mean, usually such things are sexual in nature.

“You see, they were bullying my… distant colleague at work.”

“…Really?”

That was… how should I put it. An ambiguous statement.

Distant colleague? Not a friend?

It’s a bit awkward to say this, but I’ve never thought of Pang Pang as someone with an exceptionally strong civic consciousness or someone incredibly righteous. No, I don’t mean she’s bad. Just that she’s ordinary.

I might understand if it were a close friend, but isn’t “distant colleague” a somewhat ambiguous term in many ways?

While saying this, Pang Pang was somehow watching Hayun and me.

“Are you not calling your friend a friend because you’re in front of us two?”

I asked just in case.

You know, when you’re drunk, even words that usually come to mind easily don’t come up properly.

“Friend?”

“Yes, friend. You can have friends at work too. We won’t get jealous if you have more friends.”

“Heh, friend.”

Pang Pang said with a somewhat silly grin.

“I wonder if I can call them a friend?”

“Huh?”

What does that mean?

“I’m hiding something from them.”

“Hiding something?”

“No, well, it’s nothing major. I should have told them from the beginning, but I made a mistake and didn’t mention something…”

“…Really?”

I glanced at Hayun for a moment.

Hayun was blinking. Judging by her gaze at Pang Pang, she seemed a bit surprised. Pang Pang herself didn’t seem to have the capacity to pay attention to Hayun. She was tipsy, and it seemed like she couldn’t handle talking to multiple people at once.

“Yes. So, there’s something I haven’t told them.”

“Having a secret or two doesn’t mean you’re not friends, right?”

I asked, tilting my head.

Even if they’re friends, it’s not strange to have a secret or two. Just look at me. I hid the fact that I live in an orphanage from Hayun for quite a long time.

Thinking about it again, that could have been something that shattered my hope.

Hayun treated me so normally even after hearing about it, and after that… how should I put it. Someone who could take my breath away suddenly appeared, and I was so shocked that the previous impact became irrelevant.

“…Is that so?”

“Don’t you think?”

Honestly, there probably aren’t many people who have as many secrets as I do.

“I see…”

Pang Pang quickly returned to her silly grinning face. Really, if she weren’t drunk, it would just be a purely happy face.

…

Suddenly, I wondered if it’s okay to keep feeding Pang Pang caffeine like this.

It should be fine, right? She did say she was okay with it.

“Yes. Then, in my own way, for my friend… I fought, yes.”

“So you’re worried about that? Afraid you’ll get fired for talking back to your boss?”

“…”

For some reason, Pang Pang was lost in thought for quite a while at that question. With blank eyes, she stared at the can in her hand, and then,

“Yes, well, something like that.”

She gave another ambiguous answer.

“…”

I thought for a moment and then said,

“Don’t worry too much. For jobs like that, you can probably find another one elsewhere.”

“You think so?”

Pang Pang asked back.

“Yeah, sure.”

I was a bit skeptical about that question, but I had no choice but to answer that way. I couldn’t say that’s unlikely, after all.

Especially since I don’t know exactly what kind of workplace it is.

“I see.”

Pang Pang mumbled blankly again.

“Then it’s resolved, right?”

Pang Pang said.

“I’ll still be friends with my friend, and as for work… I can just move to another place.”

“That’s right. Yes.”

Suddenly, I wondered what would happen to her relationship with that friend after changing jobs, but at this point, making her think about that seemed like it would complicate the conversation.

“…”

Perhaps feeling sorry for Pang Pang who had such worries, Hayun stared at her, forgetting even to eat snacks or drink.

…

Well, this is troublesome.

The atmosphere has become heavy again.