episode_0007

“Hey, there, did you see that? Did you see?”

The person walking beside Ha Yoon poked her with their elbow and said.

“Yeah, she’s not as pretty as I thought she’d be.”

“Is that what you think?”

It was a voice that seemed to be meant for everyone to hear. Although I had lowered my voice as if whispering, it wasn’t to the extent that it wouldn’t be heard up to here. The most annoying thing is that I can hear that voice in my ears, but what’s really frustrating is that I can’t tell if it’s a “voice meant for others to hear” or “just their own private conversation.” Even if I were to say something to them, the response would probably be, “Why are you eavesdropping?” or “We weren’t talking about you.” I can’t tell if either of those responses is true. Even though it might be my negative thinking, honestly, I think the possibility of it being a “voice meant for others to hear” is very high… But responding to such things one by one only tires me out.

If I were to confront them, I’d probably be treated as an “uneducated girl who lacks manners.”

“….”

Ha Yoon’s face darkened slightly.

Even someone who considers themselves pretty rarely openly talks about it. But regardless of whether they are pretty or not, and whether they talk about it directly or not, there’s no one who would feel good after receiving an appearance evaluation like “not as good as expected.”

If Ha Yoon had just been born pretty, there might not have been any problem. If I, like a student who is almost invisible when I’m just quietly sitting there without any position, had been in that kind of position, I wouldn’t have had to hear such comments in the first place. But Ha Yoon is a magical girl.

“Wanna go to the convenience store?”

In this situation, saying something like “don’t worry about it” would be meaningless. From the moment I hear that, I’ll start worrying. It’s better to feed her something.

“Huh?”

“Let’s go. I’ve got a craving for something.”

Without giving Ha Yoon a chance to respond, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. Ha Yoon followed without much resistance.

Until yesterday, it was pouring at night, but now that it’s daytime, the temperature has risen considerably, and the place where the snow had piled up has dried up quite a bit. Thanks to that, it wasn’t too difficult to run to the nearest convenience store.

As we entered the narrow convenience store, Ha Yoon’s neck seemed a bit itchy. It seems that she wasn’t adapting well to the sudden rise in temperature from wearing the scarf she got from me last year.

But more urgent than that was to lift Ha Yoon’s spirits, and I simply ignored that sensation.

Now, let’s see.

“Hey, Ji Eun.”

“Um….”

“Ji Eun?”

“Yeah?”

“Um… your hand.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.”

Grabbing my wrist felt more like just holding my hand. It wasn’t as surprising as when Hayoon suddenly grabbed my hand when we were young, but still, I quickly let go, feeling like I had made a mistake. Besides, it felt like she had held on tighter than I had expected.

“No… There’s nothing to apologize for,” Hayoon said, looking a bit embarrassed, wrapping her own hand with the other. Her face blushed a little as she spoke.

Ah, I see. Hayoon is already a well-known figure. Even though not many people in our neighborhood pretended to know her too much, and at school, if you showed off too much, you’d be shunned by the others, but here, not being our neighborhood or even our school, the situation was different.

In reality, Hayoon was wearing a mask on her face and a hat on her head. She had large horn-rimmed glasses on her face. Her pink hair was not tied up in a ponytail as usual, but left hanging down. If it weren’t for the mask, pulling up a scarf to cover her face would have been enough. Surprisingly, even doing just that, people didn’t recognize Hayoon as much as one might think. No, even if they did recognize her, there were more people who thought, “It can’t be her,” and passed by. Well, except for those people from earlier; they recognized her, but then again, they’re the type who recognizes everyone.

“So, what do you want to drink? Peach?” I said, turning my gaze towards the refrigerator to hide my embarrassment even a little.

Hayoon has liked peach-flavored drinks since she was young. It doesn’t seem like she likes them to match her hair color. In the first place, Hayoon isn’t good at sticking to such ‘concepts.’

“Yeah…” Hearing her faint answer, I judged it an emergency and unhesitatingly opened the refrigerator and took out two peach-flavored drinks. They also had jelly inside, making them suitable for chewing.

And before Hayoon could object, I quickly paid for them at the counter.

The part-time worker at the convenience store, who looked like a college student, stared at Hayoon, so I quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her outside. This time, I grabbed her wrist properly without making a mistake.

Since we were already going out, we decided to go to the nearby park. Even though it was about 3 degrees Celsius, we could endure it for a few minutes.

There were hardly any people in the park. Everyone must have gone to nearby cafes or shopping malls.

The benches had too much snow piled on them to sit, so I just opened the drink and handed it to Hayoon.

“Thank you.”

Taking it with both hands, Hayoon stared at me intently.

Feeling her gaze, I quickly opened my own bottle. When I tapped her bottle with mine and raised it, she toasted and I took a sip of my drink first.

The peach scent was sweet, but somewhat artificial, and then there were finely cut jellies that could even come out of a regular PET bottle. As I chewed on the jelly in my mouth, Hayoon took a sip of her drink with a small smile.

We just stared at each other for a while without saying anything.

“…It’s delicious.”

“Really? That’s a relief. I was debating whether I should have gotten something warmer.”

It wasn’t that it wasn’t good when I ate it, but after swallowing, a slight tingling sensation arose from inside my body. Hayoon didn’t show any sign of discomfort.

Should I just endure it?

If you were to choose the most inscrutable person around me, it would undoubtedly be Hayoon. While others simply find her amusing and think she’s a perfect child, having known her since childhood, I—

—No, honestly, knowing the content of the “original work,” I know how delicate Hayoon is.

She brushes off comments on the internet, and so, to avoid being disliked by others, she swallows the unpleasant words. I try to be careful in my own way, but honestly, she probably has things she wants to say to me deep down.

…Despite this and that, I think Hayoon is a good kid. And there aren’t that many good kids in the world. There are far more unruly and ill-mannered ones, including myself.

If I’m going to become an adult, shouldn’t someone like her become one too?

“So, what do you want for dinner?”

When I asked, Hayoon grinned softly.

“You bought this, so I’ll buy dinner.”

“…Even if we get two of these, it won’t cost more than 3,000 won.”

“I buy them occasionally.”

Hayoon seemed determined not to back down even at my words.

But still, if we were to compare who receives more, I would definitely receive much more…?

Well, she used to live well, so maybe her sense of money is different from mine, based on “frequency.” Gifts might not be measured by frequency either.

“Is that so? Then… let’s go wherever you want. Since it’s my treat, let’s go for what you want to eat.”

“Yeah!”

And Hayoon took me to a sushi restaurant.

It was in the middle of downtown Seoul, so even if it was a bit remote, it must have been quite expensive.

…I’ll just gratefully eat it. The sushi I had after a long time was incredibly delicious.

Let’s keep this as a secret from Jihye.

*

And about two days later.

Since it was shortly after the start of the new year, naturally, I didn’t have much to do.

Jihye was in the same boat. For broke teenagers, the only thing we could do was take a bus to go a little far, look around, and come back, but doing that every day was difficult because the weather was too cold and the bus fare was too high.

Nearby, there isn’t even a subway. Even the thought that there might be an affluent neighborhood in this area made me feel bad, as those people just ride in cars driven by chauffeurs and that’s it.

Well, I did walk all the way there without thinking a few years ago. It was a place where there was nothing but “homes,” disgustingly tall ones at that, with no convenience stores or restaurants nearby. It was astonishingly similar in structure to the neighborhood facing the moon, except the “homes” were so tall that you could probably build about five of the moon-facing homes just to construct one of these.

People who have no money and thus can only live in a place with nothing, and people who have so much money that it’s okay for them to live in a place with nothing nearby. As I pondered alone on the stark contrast between the rich and the poor, Ji-hye, who always seemed to be rolling on the ground, spoke up.

“Hey, look at this.”

Saying that, Ji-hye handed me her phone, and there was Ha-yoon on the screen. With pink hair, wearing a scarf, thick, nondescript glasses, and a mask.

…

Oh, this.

I snatched Ji-hye’s phone as if to take it away and scrolled through the screen.

[Blosum, in love?]

It was indeed a simple title.

[▲ Did they dress up so much because they didn’t want to be seen by people around them? Blosum, led by someone’s hand, is entering a building.]

The content was also quite simple, more like a description of a photo than an actual news article.

I guess further explanation is unnecessary. These kinds of things are common in entertainment news.

The problem is, this picture was probably of us entering the convenience store. Someone’s hand was tightly holding Ha-yoon’s hand. The entrance to the convenience store was slightly elevated from the road, so we had to climb a few steps, and I happened to be captured at the moment I subtly ascended above her, making the owner of the hand seem a few centimeters taller than Ha-yoon.

Moreover, both Ha-yoon and I were wearing gloves, so our genders weren’t obvious, and my figure was cut off right at the wrist, making it a picture that could easily be misunderstood by anyone who didn’t know the situation.

Ha-yoon’s cheeks were slightly flushed. And she looked a little surprised, her eyes wide, probably looking up at where I was.

“How is it? Are you really in love?”

“…”

When I glared at Ji-hye with narrowed eyes, she shrugged her shoulders.

“How would I know?”

Ha-yoon in a relationship… well, she could be, but she had confessed to me at least. I did reject her completely, but maybe it’s not because she didn’t find anyone appealing, but simply because being in a relationship itself is burdensome for her.

She’s famous to this extent, after all.

There might be people rushing after her just because of her fame.

Sometimes, in this world, there are crazy people who, after having their first relationship with a celebrity, go around saying things like “I was the first one to have her.” Perhaps Ha Yoon felt more fear than joy after receiving the confession.

“This is it.”

“Oh, really? At that time?”

Ji-hye widened her eyes as she spoke. Yes, on January 1st, I went out only because I had plans with a friend. Ji-hye was in a similar situation.

“Ah, I see. Then this is just a setup or something.”

You could probably release an article about dating the girl.

But in South Korea, where physical contact between women is relatively common, just claiming to be dating a girl of the same age by holding hands would probably only invite ridicule if turned into an article.

Quickly losing interest in the article, I handed the phone over to Ji-hye and took out my own phone.

But once I turned on the messaging app, I didn’t know what to say.

If it was an article from a highly reputable source, I could probably offer comfort first—but then again.

Wouldn’t it be better not to tell someone who might not even know about it that there’s an article like that about me?

Ugh.

While thinking about this, my phone suddenly vibrated, almost making my heart skip a beat.

Thankfully, the text wasn’t from Ha Yoon.

[Ms. Jung Ji-eun, I have something to discuss. Could you come to the main office?]

“….”

It was written quite seriously.

I glanced at the clock.

It was five in the afternoon. It would probably be six by the time I got there.

And that company’s established working hours are until six on weekdays. The “managers” usually don’t work beyond that unless it’s a truly exceptional circumstance.

So, I had to get there within 30 minutes if possible.

Physically impossible as it may seem.

“Uh, where are you going?”

“Yeah. Just a moment, my friend called me.”

“Oh, okay. Bring me a cola when you come back.”

“Sure.”

Still, at the orphanage, the kids were required to wash up as soon as they woke up, so aside from changing clothes, there was no need for any other preparation.

As soon as I left the room, I took a deep breath.

Surely it wasn’t because of that article, right?

The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I quickly shook my head and ran to the bus stop.

“Is this photo of Ms. Jung Ji-eun, right?”

The officer James placed a photo in front of me, and it was the same photo from the article I had seen.

However, unlike the cropped version focusing on Ha Yoon, this photo was the original, showing my face fairly well.

In the picture, my expression looked stiff as I held Ha Yoon’s hand and entered the convenience store. I was staring straight ahead without looking at Ha Yoon.

At first glance, it might seem like I was dragging Ha Yoon in forcibly, but looking at her expression, it was completely the opposite, making the photo somewhat peculiar.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Tell them it’s not here. They probably already know that at the company, so I just answered like that for now.”

James, with an exaggerated tone, got up from his seat and walked towards the window. As a high-ranking official in a large corporation, the window was quite large. The brightly lit view of Seoul spread out before him, looking very picturesque. In front of him was City Hall, and the square in front of it had been turned into an ice rink. People were skating there, drawing large circles.

“If you were in such a prestigious position, you should have said something sooner. We would have treated you much better from the beginning.”

“…Did Nuar Corporation take this picture?”

“Of course. Since we also operate in the entertainment business, it’s our duty to provide enjoyable attractions for law-abiding citizens.”

It’s fake news. Such thoughts came to mind, but I held back for the time being.

“So, what are you trying to say…?”

“We will increase the donation.”

I stared at James intently. Turning towards me while looking out the window with a hidden agenda, he continued, “Do you know how their circuit operates?”

“…It’s hope.”

They’re promoting it extensively in the Galactic Federation. And in this company too.

“Of course. Hope. Hope is good, isn’t it? But how long can such transient energy sources really last?”

Still in an exaggerated manner, James spoke, gesturing with his arms.

“Isn’t the courage to directly confront the obstacles in front of us the true source of human progress?”

The words aren’t wrong, but the reason itself is very suspicious.

“But, alright. We also know how much the emotion of hope can help humans. So, those girls must be on this ‘front line’ for that reason, right?”

“…,” I fell silent as I looked at the photo James pointed to.

So, this person is saying that being captured in a photo like this is part of a magical girl’s duty.

“So, what do you want me to do?”

I asked. Both the offer to increase the donation and the way he was loudly proclaiming it in front of me seemed to have very impure intentions.

“What do you want me to do!”

James said that and then turned to come to my side of the desk, about to put his hand on my shoulder, but seeing me glaring at him, he withdrew his hand.

“Rather than that, I was actually going to advise you to get closer to her.”

So, is he telling a busy person to come in the afternoon at five?

“Absolutely. In return, could you meet with us a little more frequently than usual? We will ensure Ms. Jung Ji-eun’s safety. Just make sure to frequently show her in public with you. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry too much. There’s no problem with you being close to the magical girl. Work is work, and friends are friends. It’s not a bad thing when business and personal life are clear, right? The donation…”

James told me that the donation would be about 1.5 times what I usually receive. Because of that, I couldn’t bring myself to completely refuse his directive to do something unfavorable to my friend.

…Yes, even thinking about it, I feel like trash. No matter how scary the repercussions of refusal might have been.

But while juggling my studies, there’s almost no other way for me to secure this amount of money through work.

After finishing the conversation, I wandered outside without even having dinner for quite some time. Normally, walking helped me sort out my thoughts when I had a lot on my mind, but even after walking for about an hour until I returned to the orphanage, my thoughts were still far from organized.