episode_0045

Yung, in fact, was said to have not stuttered as a child and was not a hikikomori.

Although she was a Zainichi Korean, she was very popular due to her unique sociability and pretty face; if anything, she was closer to being a popular person.

She even had no prejudice and often talked to her otaku friends, sharing various geeky information.

Thanks to this, even in middle school, she had many friends, and many people confessed to her.

Of course, she didn’t accept anyone, as she wasn’t particularly interested in dating in middle school.

However, she had one problem.

“Ouch!”

“What, are you okay?”

She had what is commonly called a “lucky pervert” constitution.

She would accidentally trip and fall, only to land buried in the chest of a handsome ikemen.

*Thud.*

“Ah. Sorry.”

“Uh-huh. I-I’m fine.”

Or a handsome man would trip, leading to a kabedon, and so on; she had this “lucky pervert” constitution.

This wasn’t a particular problem when she was in middle school.

After all, it was a small neighborhood middle school, there weren’t many people, and most of the kids were close. They knew Yung had this constitution since she was little.

The problem started after she became a high school student.

When she became a high school student and her other friends went to nearby schools, Yung, who had been in the top ranks of her class, entered a high school with a high academic deviation score (Japanese equivalent of a 9-grade system).

Originally, Yung had also intended to go to a nearby school, but her parents’ fierce opposition ultimately thwarted her plans.

“You can go to a higher place.”

“Child, it will be much easier to become a lawyer or a doctor if you go there. So, okay?”

Her parents saw their child not as an individual, but as a trophy.

But up to this point, it was okay.

Even at the new school she entered, she had many friends around her.

So, after she became a high school student, about half a year later, things exploded.

Strange rumors about Yung began to circulate in school.

Rumors that she intentionally crossed her legs or fell into men’s arms to seduce them.

At first, Yung ignored these rumors. Such rumors were common even at the schools she had attended before.

Originally, such rumors would calm down if one simply ignored them.

And in reality, it was similar.

Only those who disliked her spread such talk, but it wasn’t the mainstream opinion.

The problem came next.

There was a senior at school famous for being handsome.

That senior was dating someone in Yung’s grade. Suddenly, that senior broke up with that person and confessed to Yung.

The only interaction Yung had with that senior was being helped once when she almost fell.

It was already utterly strange up to this point. But the senior’s line while confessing was absurd.

“I felt destiny with you!”

That senior confessed to Yung, claiming to have felt destiny just from helping her once.

One might ask if this could really happen in reality. But reality is often a cesspool.

Naturally, Yung rejected such a senior.

She thought that doing so would be the way to calm down the current situation.

But it wasn’t.

Perhaps because of that senior’s ex-girlfriend, some people began spreading rumors again, saying that all of Yung’s “lucky pervert” actions were intended to seduce men, and that she had actually seduced several.

The difference from before was that this time, the rumors were more malicious, imbued with deep-seated resentment and purpose.

Naturally, Yung behaved similarly this time as well.

She laughed as usual, said such rumors were all false and impossible, and quietly attended school.

It was natural. At home, she had to remain a good daughter. She couldn’t cause any commotion.

Therefore, she hoped it would pass quietly, just like before. Sadly, this time her wish did not come true.

In middle school, she had people who had been close to her for a long time, but not here.

Before she knew it, she had become an outcast.

When she came to school, she had to check the shoes in her shoe locker. The last time, she had simply put them on and gotten poked by a pin.

And when she arrived in class, she immediately went to the restroom, brought a rag, and wiped her desk, which was defiled with graffiti and insults.

Her locker contained all sorts of filth.

Yes. She had been branded as the school’s [toy] within society.

But even so, she quietly attended school.

Although she was treated like air, she still diligently attended classes, studied hard for pop quizzes, and maintained her top academic standing.

In response to her reaction, those who harbored resentment towards Yung began spreading unspeakable rumors, and thus, rumors that crossed the line significantly began to spread about her again.

For example, rumors that she was involved in compensated dating, or that she sold her body to men, or would give herself to them if they wanted.

This time too, Yung thought that if she just kept quiet, these baseless rumors would calm down.

But reality was an even greater cesspool.

While Yung kept silent, she had become the school’s common rag.

Does this make sense?

Well, seeing as it’s not much different in South Korea, Japan was simply not much different either.

The even bigger problem was that Yung, who was hiding in the restroom, heard these words from her former friend.

From that point, Yung stopped speaking well, and her speech became slurred in front of others.

It was because the dual nature of humans had traumatized her.

Thus, an incident occurred that ended her school life, as she was already seriously considering dropping out due to rumors and events that were close to personal degradation.

To avoid people’s eyes, she had been quietly reading in a study room and was returning home late when some thuggish seniors, rumored to be connected to a second-year yakuza, discovered her.

“Hey. How much for compensated dating?”

“Right, right. Let me try it just once too~”

“Hehe. Hey. Are you guys the only ones who get to use her? Let me use her too!”

The thuggish seniors grabbed her, dragged her to a secluded spot, and “suggested” she offer her body to them.

“U-uh… N-no!”

No. In fact, they weren’t suggesting; they were forcing her.

“Hey. We’re being nice right now. Do you look like you can refuse?”

“Wow. So innocent~”

“That’s what you get for not managing your reputation well.”

“Kya—mph! Mmph!!”

“Ehehe. It’s no fun if you make noise like that.”

They blocked Yung’s arms and mouth and tried to rape her.

Fortunately, Yung was not raped by them.

“You guys! What are you doing there!!”

A notoriously strict physical education teacher, who was patrolling the school, discovered them.

After that, Yung was able to return home safely, but her spirit was completely broken instead.

Yung was now afraid of men. More precisely, she was afraid of all people, but men were especially terrifying to her.

So Yung secluded herself inside her house.

No. In fact, she couldn’t even seclude herself. Her parents called their daughter, who had run away from school, a coward.

Yung’s family, rather than comforting her, scolded their daughter for damaging their reputation and told her to go back to school.

She found such parents so abhorrent that she went to live with her aunt and uncle, who had doted on her in the past.

Additionally, thanks to her uncle, who was a capable programmer, she was able to learn programming.

And after living there for several years, learning about programming and how to get work, she saved up enough money to become independent, which brought her to the present—that was Yung’s life story until now.

“H-h-hugh… B-because of this constitution, I only cause trouble for others… and make them unnecessarily worried…”

I listened to Yung’s words for a moment, then snapped my fingers.

*Snap.*

As I snapped my fingers, I saw the life drain from Yung’s expression, which had been tearful moments before, and I sighed deeply.

“Haa…”

Frankly, the story Yung told was hard for me to believe.

In my case, I had to drop out of high school halfway through my first year, no, at the beginning of my freshman year, almost forcibly.

Even before, when Haruka had a similar experience, I couldn’t empathize for the same reason.

Is high school truly a place overflowing with such bullying?

I clearly heard it was full of dreams and hope?

Well, parents. They might be like that.

If not, there were two possibilities. Either both of them were special cases, or…

‘They must be lying.’

Personally, I dislike interrogating like this, but I still need to confirm what the truth is.

If they lied to me…

‘The old way… No. Let’s just leave it.’

There’s no need to act like before even here. I’ll just consider it bad luck.

So, while she was under hypnosis, I asked.

“Yung, there isn’t a single lie in what you just said, is there?”

“Yes…”

“I’ll ask again. Rua, is everything she said true?”

“Yes…”

Fortunately, it seemed there were no lies in what she said.

‘Haa… Good. If it’s true, that’s a relief.’

I was relieved for a moment. But then, I understood even less.

‘Then why did she apologize to me?’

Why was she apologizing? I couldn’t understand.

In truth, she had done nothing wrong.

Her only fault was reacting lukewarmly to the rumors.

If it were me, I would have used the Korean political tradition of covering it up with another, bigger issue.

“Yung. Why did you apologize to me?”

“Because my strange habit showed you an ugly side of me, I believe it’s all my fault…”

“Did you feel similarly when you were bullied by those high school friends?”

“Yes…”

Should I call this a pushover, or a saint?

I pondered for a moment while she was still under hypnosis.

[TIP 2. If you empathize with her words and comfort her, she will find salvation…]

The tip window was giving me this advice, but to end it with just this much…

Would that truly be salvation? I pondered for a moment, but…

“That’s not for me to decide.”

It was a matter for the person concerned to decide.

If it wasn’t her own choice, it would all be meaningless.

Right now, I just need to solve the mission given by the screen.

Perhaps, if I released the hypnosis and showed appropriate empathy, she would find salvation on her own.

‘But.’

Still, there was something I really wanted to tell her, even if it meant failing the mission.

I released Yung from hypnosis and said,

“Honestly, I can’t say that there’s absolutely no fault in your story.”

“Y-Yes?”

“At the very least, when you left school, you should have punched the faces of those who bullied you.”

“Eh?”

“If someone hated you for no reason, you should have given them a reason. If someone slapped your right cheek, you should have punched them in the jaw. And find the reason for being hit in the opponent, not yourself.”

“G-g-gh… Y-yes…?”

Yung seemed not to understand the exact meaning of my words.

So I told her directly.

“So, even if someone hates you, don’t blame yourself; blame the one who made it that way.”

Only then did Yung seem to understand my words.

“B-but then, it’d be a bother…”

“You can cause that much trouble for someone who slapped your face.”

“C-can I really do that?”

“Yeah. At least to those assholes who mess with you.”

“R-really?”

I nodded repeatedly to Yung’s repeated questions.

“H-h-hugh… C-can I really. Really. Do that? I thought I just had to keep quiet…”

Upon hearing my affirmative words, it seemed the lump in Yung’s heart had loosened, and I saw tears welling up in her eyes, hidden by her hair.

I gently swept back the hair covering Yung’s forehead and said,

“If you just keep quiet, this world will see you as a pushover and slap you again. Before that happens, you should hit them back on both cheeks.”

“Hehe. W-what is that…”

Yung, who had been shedding tears at my straightforward words, cried and laughed for a long time until she seemed exhausted and was half dozing off, so I gently laid her down.

As she lay on the bed, Yung, who was already sleepy, was almost at the point of falling asleep. And just before she drifted off, Yung said to me,

“Th-thank you so much…”

Along with those words, a screen indicating “Side Episode Complete” appeared, but more than that, I wished for Yung to rest comfortably.

After leaving the room where Yung was sleeping, I spoke to Ms. Miharu, who was sitting there.

“Let’s go now.”

“Yung is…”

“She’s sleeping comfortably, so don’t worry.”

Ms. Miharu, whose eyes widened at my words, carefully opened Yung’s door, confirmed that Yung was sleeping, and then looked at me with a relieved expression again.

‘No. Am I really that untrustworthy?’

I thought that and headed towards the entrance to leave Yung’s house with Ms. Miharu.

“That’s why. Is that why girls flock around him…?”

Before leaving Yung’s house, I heard Ms. Miharu’s small murmur, but it was probably just my imagination.