Like Mother, Like Daughter

 

“Daughter, is it okay if you go house hunting with just Reina today? Should mom come along?”

Mom looked at me with a worried expression while eating breakfast.

If this were the first time she’d asked, I would’ve minded less—

“Omnom—I said it’s fine? How many times are you going to ask… We’re just looking around, not making a decision to buy right away!?”

Even if she was my mom, repeating questions with the same feeling multiple times was making me increasingly annoyed.

To indicate she should stop asking, I answered with strong emphasis, and the dining table went quiet.

Still, did I react too strongly? As I was beginning to feel a bit of regret,

“…Really?”

Mom’s sarcastic tone made that regret disappear instantly.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well—you know… I’m not saying my daughter is stupid~ Yeah. I’m just worried. These days there are jeonse scams, fake listings…”

-Grip..!

Due to mom’s peculiar way of speaking, I felt like I might break not just the chopsticks but the entire table, so I cut in while she was still talking.

“Grrr… Are you worried because I’m stupid, or because it’s my first time at a real estate agency? Say it clearly.”

Mom hesitated more and more at my question as I gritted my teeth and growled. Her answer was—

“Hmm… Both?”

It was too shocking.

“… Fine. I’m not eating anymore.”

“Hey! I’m joking, just joking, hoho… Huh? Ara, where are you going!”

Gradually losing control of my facial expressions and feeling like I might bite my mom with my molars, I stopped eating breakfast and fled to my room.

If Ara was the bully in charge of Roilli and Pollon,

Mom was the bully in charge of Ara.

It was the start of a peaceful morning routine.

♦♦♦

‘Hmm♪ Hmm♫’

Reina was humming cheerfully from early morning, swinging her red ponytail.

‘Finally! The first step toward our newlywed life…!’

Her heart was pounding at the thought of the “newlywed” home where they would live together as soon as they became adults.

She even forced herself to eat breakfast, which she usually skipped to conserve energy, and maintained strict self-discipline.

[10:13]

With 2 hours and 47 minutes left until the appointment time of 1 o’clock—

‘Quickly, quickly, time, pass by…’

After fidgeting by turning her smartphone on and off, Reina finally—

Decided to go to Ara’s house.

“She’s not answering… Well—I’m going anyway! Hehee♥”

She tried calling and messaging on KakaoTalk out of courtesy, but Ara didn’t answer, though Reina didn’t mind.

Reina thought Ara must be sleeping in again and couldn’t answer.

However.

Reina’s assumption was completely wrong.

When Reina arrived at Ara’s room.

“….Reina, am I that stupid?”

“Uh, well…”

Before her eyes lay a snow-white lie and a crimson truth.

Due to Ara consistently pressuring her with an either-or choice,

Reina started to sweat profusely.

Perhaps because Ara disliked her hesitant response?

“Fine. We’ll go to the real estate agency another time—”

With Ara threatening to hold their “newlywed” home hostage,

“Ara is not stu-stupid. Haha..”

Reina chose the worst option by giving a deceptive answer while patting Ara’s head (nadenade).

It’s not like she’d never told a lie in her life, but

“Mm. Mm. As expected, Reina is the best friend.”

“You’re sm-smart… Yeah. Ara is sm-smart… Ha, ha..”

Trying to keep fabricating non-existent truths made Reina feel like thorns were growing on her tongue.

♦♦♦

Ara’s mood improved somewhat after Reina’s long, long nadenade.

Only after Reina’s efforts softened the atmosphere—

“Let’s look around places close to both the company and my family home.”

“Okay!”

Before going to the real estate agency, they were filling their knowledge by briefly learning about the houses they would live in together.

As they were reaching a rough agreement on what would become their new residence, Reina spoke in a serious tone.

“Ara, will we use separate rooms? Or~~ will we share one!?”

“What kind of question is that. I ought to—”

Ara shuddered and answered Reina’s question, which was full of impure intentions.

“Heeeng…”

Seeing Reina making a disappointed sound at my answer, I felt pity—

Actually, I didn’t feel any pity at all.

“What are you whining about? Of course we won’t share a room. If we were going to share, we’d need to find a place with a big room, but that would be too spacious for just the two of us. Do you want to clean it all by yourself?”

“But—”

“Ssshh—Enough! We also need to stream. Did you forget about streaming? A two-room apartment with spacious individual rooms would be optimal.”

I firmly laid out the logical argument and silenced Reina, who kept insisting, trying to end the topic.

“So mean… You clearly said yesterday that we’d do a collab! Ara is a liar!”

However, Reina couldn’t let go of her attachment to sharing a room.

“Hey, you fucking girl. That was a different kind of collab─!! You stupid wench!!”

Because of her, I ended up cursing and shouting loudly.

After that, Reina and Ara argued over the room-sharing issue.

In a battle like a spear trying to penetrate and a shield as solid as an iron wall, the winner was—

“Huff-huff-should I cancel living together?”

As the shield used its trump card,

“…Alright.”

Ending with the decision to use separate rooms,

■ Location not too far from home and company.

■ Parking lot essential

■ Two rooms

※ Living room and rooms must be reasonably spacious.

Ara and Reina compiled all the conditions, and—

“You’re supposed to bring a guardian when looking at houses. Got it? Not because I don’t trust my daughter, but…”

“……”

“Ha, ha”

Together with Madam Kim Soon-ok, Ara’s mother, a total of three people headed to a nearby real estate agency.

Ara almost lost her temper due to her mother’s occasional remarks that got under her skin, but thanks to Reina gently soothing Ara, they were able to arrive at the real estate agency without incident.

Enough to embarrass the mother who joined as a guardian because she was worried about sending just the two of them—

“Haha! Well, well, this is something to see! To think that athlete Kang Ara would visit our real estate agency!”

“Ah. Yes.”

The real estate agent was a huge fan of Ara.

Ara gave the agent who enthusiastically welcomed her an autograph, a handshake, and even took a photo.

Then she immediately told the agent what kind of property they were looking for.

“Haha, I understand! I’ll only find you proper listings. Please make yourselves comfortable on that sofa while I search—”

The agent enthusiastically went off to find properties that matched the conditions Ara had shown.

Ara recalled being annoyed by her mother since morning regarding real estate.

— Shrug

Ara shrugged her shoulders at her mother and showed a haughty expression.

And for the finishing touch,

She mouthed ‘Seems like we didn’t need mom after all? Hee’ quietly enough that the agent couldn’t hear.

Perhaps because of her child’s impudent behavior…

“I’m going to throttle that girl—!”

Her mother, hit directly by the karma beam, was about to cause a scene.

“Mother, please calm down…!!”

Thanks to Reina stopping her mother from the side, a major commotion was avoided.

‘Hehe’

While Ara was inwardly laughing, satisfied with her sweet revenge on her mother, the agent approached.

“Athlete Kang Ara. There are exactly three properties that meet the conditions you’ve set… How about it? Would you like to go see them right now?”

“Ahem… Yes. Can we go see them right away?”

“Of course! If the Sword Saint says go, we must go immediately!”

“Hmm. Sword Saint, you say? Hehe…”

While Ara was conversing in a friendly atmosphere with the agent,

“Oh my! She’s gone crazy. Gone crazy.”

“M-Mother… ha, ha”

Someone was watching this scene with disapproval from behind.

“…Oh my, look at the time…! Shall we go now?”

“Ahem… Yes. Let’s go see them right away. Mom, Reina, let’s go!”

At the agent’s suggestion to see the properties, as his fawning material ran out, Ara agreed and called for her mom and Reina.

And so Ara and her companions left the real estate agency, following the agent.

“You girl. Haven’t you heard of sweet talk?”

“Heh… Mom. Don’t be jealous of your daughter. They say jealousy on top of old age makes you look ugly, you know?”

“Y-You little…! Khu. Khuk… My blood pressure… Aack…!”

“M-M-Mother!!”

Due to the unstable teamwork caused by the power struggle between Ara and her mother from the start,

‘I want to go home… sniff’

Reina, caught in the middle and suffering, felt like running away immediately.

Still, thinking that it would be the house she’d live in with Ara, Reina endured.

She thought they wouldn’t fight when viewing the properties, but.

“Sigh. What’s the problem now?”

“Oh… why is my daughter so impudent today?

“Hmm. This place is quite nice?”

“Tsk. How can you have such poor judgment? Tsk tsk.”

“? Why are you finding fault where there is none? Madam Kim, are you senile?”

— Bang!

“….Hmph!”

“I hmph too, you brat!”

Because the two fought for different reasons every time they looked at different properties.

‘…Haah’

In the end, Reina alone carefully examined the properties.

“I liked all three places…”

“”…….””

“Yes… I’ll just decide myself. Don’t say later that this one would have been better.”

To the point where she thought, maybe I should have come alone?

“Then for the contract documents…”

“…Yes. I understand…”

Ara and her mother were useless.

And so the house where Ara and Reina would live together was decided.

‘…I’ll go look at furniture alone.’

Reina decided to go look at furniture for their newlywed home by herself, taking today’s events as a lesson.