episode_0015

With a thud, Hanrye Won, who had been slapped, sank to the ground.

The area in front of the school gate, which had been buzzing with noise, was instantly enveloped in silence.

“You dog-like woman.”

Muyeon Seo, muttering curses under her breath, seemed unsatisfied and kicked the ground as if that wasn’t enough.

“Muyeon Seo!!!”

I barely regained my senses and hurriedly stepped in to stop her.

“What are you doing? Why did you hit someone?!”

“….”

“Suddenly showing up…! Are you okay, Rye Won?”

“Y-yeah….”

Hanrye Won, sitting with her hand on her cheek, trembled as if overwhelmed by fear and reached out her hand.

She had clearly never been hit, not even by that ridiculous excuse for a father.

Her heart was so heavy that there seemed to be no way to handle it.

“I’m sorry…! It’s all because of me…!”

“N-no…! It’s not your fault…”

Hanrye Won glanced briefly at Muyeon Seo.

“….”

Meanwhile, Muyeon Seo just stood silently, watching us.

I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking.

“Rye Won. I’m really sorry. I’ll contact you again…”

“Y-yeah….”

In my heart, I wanted to apologize properly to her, but right now, handling the situation was the priority.

Hastily ushering Hanrye Won away, I grabbed Muyeon Seo’s hand, forcing an impression.

“Come with me.”

She obediently followed me.

*

Moving to Muyeon Seo’s house.

It had always been a place filled with joy and happiness whenever I visited, but today was different.

“Muyeon Seo.”

Suppressing my anger all the way in the taxi, I sat down on the sofa and asked her desperately, trying to calm my anger.

“What were you doing earlier?”

“What do you mean?”

Her somewhat indifferent tone carried the nuance that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

Unable to bear her shameless attitude, I eventually lost my temper.

“Do you really not know? You came to the school out of the blue and slapped a student! Are you out of your mind?”

“Yeah. I am.”

“W-what…?”

“That wench was flirting with my man. How could I not be crazy?”

Muyeon Seo met my sharp gaze with a piercing look.

I know everything, and in that gaze, I momentarily faltered.

“What nonsense! He’s just a friend! Just a classmate friend…!”

“Just a friend? Is that why you hid it from me?”

“…What…”

Come to think of it, that was the case.

Why did she suddenly come to the school?

And how could she have hit Hanryeowon without any hesitation?

“I knew all along.”

From the start, she knew everything and came to find out.

‘No, how…’

How she found out about Hanryeowon’s relationship, I don’t know, but that’s not important right now.

It’s her current actions that matter.

“Will that change your wrongdoing? Think about what you did! How could you slap someone in public…! If you have a complaint, you should use words, not violence!”

What happened between us should have been resolved within our boundaries.

But Mayeonseo seemed to show a confident attitude as if she was right.

“People don’t understand when you talk.”

“What did you say…?”

“Look. How many times did I tell you not to be close with girls? But what? Friends?”

“…That’s…”

“Yuchan. Who deceived and broke the promise first?”

I wanted to argue back, but the words wouldn’t come out.

I also wanted to enjoy my school life like everyone else. So, is it a sin to secretly make friends?

I wanted to confess the feelings I had kept secret for so long, but it was my fault for deceiving and hiding them first.

It all stemmed from my mistakes.

All of it.

“You should have just hit me instead…!”

Wrapped in an indescribable sense of suffocation, I sighed with a trembling voice.

However, she didn’t accept my feelings.

“How could I hit you?”

As if referring to an obvious fact, she casually spat out an incredible statement.

“I can’t hit you. If you die, you die.”

…!

In her demeanor, I felt a faint, inexplicable madness.

“Yuchan….”

She, who had approached unexpectedly, reached out and caressed my face.

With honey dripping from her eyes, she handled the precious gem as if it might shatter with the slightest force. Then, with a subtle clench of her face and a piercing gaze, she softly whispered, “People who love each other don’t hurt one another.”

That single sentence pierced my heart like a dagger.

“I, I…” Flustered, I tried to force out any words I could, but she slowly raised her head, interrupting me.

“It’s okay. I understand everything. It was all Hanyeo-won’s fault, so she received punishment for it. Right?”

Her affectionate tone carried an unsettling sense of unilateral blame-shifting.

“Did you deceive me because you wanted to be deceived? Maybe… No, that couldn’t be… I also…”

“You did nothing wrong, didn’t you?”

She cut in sharply, then pulled me close.

“Nothing.”

Her chilling words concealed sharp thorns that pricked at my body.

A warning.

This was a warning.

I could do whatever I pleased, but others absolutely could not.

So, this was a stern “warning” to be careful from now on.

“Ugh…” Suddenly, my body shivered, and my breath caught in my throat.

Finally, I felt as if she had grasped the true meaning of love she held.

She really wasn’t in her right mind.

“I have to… somehow.”

Terrified, despite still loving her, I abruptly pulled away from her embrace.

Swallowing hard, I spoke earnestly.

“Yeonseo, I sincerely apologize for deceiving you and causing you pain.”

“But… no matter how sincere I am, if you keep acting like this…”

“Do you hate me?” In an instant, Yeonseo’s gaze turned cold.

“Hate…! I don’t hate you…”

In reality, this was her last chance to mend her ways.

Desperately, I tried to calm my emotions and persuade her.

“Someone who causes harm around me and acts recklessly, how could I possibly like that? Isn’t that right?”

But she continued to deviate.

“That’s why. I don’t like it, you know.”

“I still… I still don’t dislike it. Just don’t do this in the future. Okay?”

“…You think you’ll start disliking it soon?”

“Yeonseo…!”

That was when it happened.

Striding purposefully, Mayeonseo headed towards the kitchen.

“I’m not finished speaking yet!”

Unable to tolerate her consecutive impulsive actions, I raised my voice sharply.

Unconcerned, she arrived in the kitchen…

Swiftly, she drew out a silent kitchen knife.

“!”

Just brushing against it felt like it could cut through me, that kind of sharp kitchen knife.

“You, you…! What are you doing right now…!”

Mayeonseo turned back to me with an utterly casual expression.

Then, nonchalantly, she handed me the handle of the knife and spoke.

“Let me die while I still love.”

“W-what, what are you…?”

“Kill me before I stop loving.”

Is something wrong with my ears?

Or is she spouting incomprehensible words in front of me?

At that shocking moment, I was at a loss for words.

“Don’t like it? Then I’ll do it.”

As if showing off, she grasped the knife in reverse.

“W-would you please put that down right now?!”

Startled, I grimaced and tried to stop her.

“Are you out of your mind! Put that knife down immediately…!”

And then…

“I love you, Kang Yoochan.”

Looking straight into my eyes, she aimed at my neck and forcefully brought the knife down.

“No!!!”

Thud!

I barely managed to throw myself to prevent the accident, and trembling, I subdued her with hands shaking violently.

“….”

Meanwhile, beneath me, she continued to gaze up at me with an indifferent face.

From her inscrutable expression, it was impossible to discern what she was thinking.

“What on earth…”

She felt so terrifying.

Like a time bomb ready to explode at any moment, in ways unknown.

“Please, just stop now! It’s all my fault…!”

“What did you do wrong?”

“….”

“What did I do wrong?”

“I, I…! I hid my friend on my own…! I got mad at you….”

“Again?”

“…You said you might start to dislike me…. You said harsh things….”

“Again?”

With each word, her breath became stifled and her insides twisted.

“Is that all?”

“……”

Unable to continue, she lowered her head, and with a sigh, she rose, embracing me as if to kindly forgive my mistake.

“It’s okay. Just do better from now on.”

“……”

The sorrow I couldn’t express made tears well up.

‘I have to break up.’

Though an alarm in my head insisted that it shouldn’t go on like this….

I couldn’t bring myself to say the words “let’s break up.”

This time, out of fear of what might happen again.

I couldn’t utter a single word.

I was a weak human.

*

“I’m sorry.”

I apologized earnestly to Hanyerwon.

“Oh, no! It’s not because of you…. It’s really okay!”

Despite her nonchalance, her attitude only deepened my guilt.

So, I began to keep my distance from Hanyerwon.

“Hey, Yoochan…! Can we talk for a moment…?”

“Sorry, I’m busy right now.”

“Oh…. Okay….”

In truth, deep down, I wanted to be close to her as before.

Regardless of gender, there was no friend who understood me as well as she did.

But every time such thoughts arose, Ma Yeonseo’s warning kept ringing in my mind.

“I don’t know what she’ll do next.”

She’s the one who pulled out a real knife, saying she’d rather die than part ways.

What can’t she do?

I wanted to stop her from running wild, even if it meant deceiving myself.

‘Yeah…. I just need Yeonseo…. Only Yeonseo….’

Soon, summer vacation began.

Whenever it was vacation time, Ma Yeonseo, who used to always go to the US, stayed in Korea.

“It’s nice being with me, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…. it is….”

Thanks to that, I started going to her house every morning and leaving late in the evening.

Every day was miserable.

“Yoochan… Are you very tired these days?”

“…No?”

Even then, my mother asked with a hint of concern…

“Lately, your face looks so pale. Should Mom buy some supplements for you…?”

“I’m okay.”

As for supplements, I was already taking plenty from the Ma Yeon-seo’s house.

Excessively so.

[Why aren’t you here?]

“I stopped by the convenience store.”

[Hurry back. I miss you.]

“…Okay.”

I moved my feet like livestock being dragged to the slaughterhouse every single day.

“Have this.”

“Okay.”

I ate as she offered.

“Kiss.”

“Peck.”

Occasionally, we exchanged banter.

“I bought this for you. Isn’t it pretty?”

“…Okay. Thank you. I’ll wear it well.”

Even after the start of the semester, not much had changed.

Ma Yeon-seo♥ [Come to our house after it’s over.]

Ma Yeon-seo♥ [Answer.]

Me [Sorry. I’ll come right after. Love you.]

How long had it been since I lived silently, killing my heart like a stupid doll?

A winter warmer than usual.

With the vacation approaching, Ma Yeon-seo suddenly left for the United States.

“…To the US?”

“This time, for sure, for a long time.”

“Oh… really?”

“You’re glad I’m gone?”

“No, no. Of course not… I’ll wait for you. Have a safe trip.”

Truly, it was a long-awaited true freedom.

“Being alone is this comfortable.”

At first, freedom felt awkward, but after a few days, I began to enjoy and savor it.

I rested at my own pace, spent time as I pleased.

Just lying down doing nothing brought a smile to my lips.

Who would have known that being untouched by anyone could bring such happiness?

Ma Yeon-seo♥ [What are you doing?]

Me [Thinking about you.]

As long as I passed the occasional surprise inspection, no one could stop me.

No one!

“…She’s not answering…”

And so, just as I was fully immersed in sweet freedom…

On a particularly snowy night outside the window,

I was waiting alone for my mother’s return.

“What could be going on…?”

It was already time to leave work and return home, but for some reason, there had been no contact until late at night.

Suddenly, the conversation I had with my mother a few days ago bothered me.

“If anyone asks about ‘Mr. Ahjussi’, just say you don’t know anything.”

“Out of the blue?… What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you later, just do as I say… Got it?”

Clearly, my mother had only told me to hide the relationship with ‘Mr. Ahjussi’.

Could it be related to the incident where Mr. Ahjussi went missing a long time ago?

“No, I can’t. I should go to the mart.”

In the end, unable to bear the worry, I was about to head to the mart where my mother worked.

Ring ring— Ring ring—

Just then, as if on cue, a call came from my mother.

“Mom! Why are you so late…”

But…

“…Yes?”

[Is this Ms. Kim Yoon Jung? Right now, Ms. Kim Yoon Jung is…!]

I unexpectedly heard the news.