episode_0056

Colorful fireworks are embroidered in the dark night sky.

The fireworks rose high into the sky with a loud sound and soon turned into brilliant starlight with a popping sound and poured down to the ground.

Voices of exclamation naturally flowed from the mouths of the people who gathered in small groups to see the beautiful sight.

“Wow.”

Our group was no exception, and everyone was busy taking in the magnificent sight with their mouths open.

Actually, even as I was saying this, I was a little surprised.

There was a world of difference between seeing fireworks on a TV screen and seeing them in person.

The grandeur when it is launched, the splendor when it explodes, the pounding that strikes the heart.

To some extent, I understood why fireworks are an indispensable part of mass media.

In the midst of the crazy fireworks, I secretly followed a person with my eyes.

There is no time to relax and enjoy fireworks. Because the day was about to end.

The target person was quickly found.

She took a seat a little away from me and was with two people, Yuna and Han Chae-yeon.

Wearing a black swimsuit, a white T-shirt, and pink sandals, she stood out more than anyone else in this place.

She had a big smile on her face as if she was so happy, and although it was hard to hear because of the sound of firecrackers, it seemed like she was telling the two people about the day’s events.

Just by looking at that appearance, it was the perfect Cha Su-jin.

“Ah! Oppa.”

In the meantime, Sujin seemed to have spotted me and waved at me with a happy face.

She had been unable to hide her gloomy appearance yesterday, but now she looked happier than anyone else, as if she had already forgotten all that.

‘If possible, please watch from the side. Anyone can see that she was overexerting herself today. So much so that I feel sorry for myself.’

Suddenly, Chanwoo’s words came to mind.

There is also a story that today’s Sujin is different from usual Sujin.

Squeeze.

While I was lost in those thoughts, someone pulled my sleeve.

“What’s wrong?”

It was Ran who was watching the fireworks with sparkling eyes just moments ago.

Colorful fireworks were still showing off in the sky one after another, but Ran’s eyes were only focused on me.

“…!”

Ran opened her mouth and said something to me.

However, the sound of fireworks was exploding right in front of Sujin’s nose, so she couldn’t hear it clearly.

I guess I was frustrated, too, so I pounded my chest.

Due to the aftereffects of not speaking for a long time, Ran was not good at shouting loudly like others.

Normally, I use a tablet to communicate in these cases, but I didn’t have it with me because I was worried about losing it in a place with so many people.

I lowered my knees and put my ear to Ran’s mouth.

“What are you worried about?”

Then Ran’s worried voice reached my ears.

The sight of Ran looking at me with anxious eyes was so cute that I burst into laughter.

“No. You don’t have to worry much about Ran.”

As if he didn’t like my answer, his soft cheeks swelled up a little, as if I could see them or not.

I thought it was fortunate that the surroundings were noisy. Otherwise, Ran would have found out about my current feelings.

If it were me before I talked to Chanwoo, I might have gotten help from Ran.

If Ran had the ability to hear other people’s minds, winning the bet would have been a breeze.

But I didn’t want to do that.

Ran, like the twins, did not like his own power very much.

It turned out to be a misunderstanding, but I had experienced bad things in the past due to that power.

Even if she does it because she wants to, I want her to live a normal life if possible. As this one helping becomes two and three times, Ran will grow in a different direction than I want.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason he refused Ran’s help.

It was because I thought that neither Haryeong nor I would be convinced even if we won the bet using a force that was close to cheating.

There was something I realized through my conversation with Chanwoo.

Surprisingly, I wonder if I don’t know anything about Cha Soo-jin.

Of course, I know that Sujin is one-dimensional.

He likes games and has the social skills to quickly become friends with strangers.

I was very confident in my appearance and was always confident. However, at the same time, they also have a tendency to overdo things because they don’t want to worry others.

To add a bit of an aside, my specialty is cooking hellish dishes.

This is how I thought about the character Sujin.

But is that really all there is?

Could it be that I was making my own judgments based solely on superficial behavior?

Such thoughts kept running through my head.

My purpose is to save Ha-ryeong.

That’s for sure. However, I had no intention of giving up on Sujin.

Either way, the fact that she is my precious little sister has not changed.

I patted Ran’s worried head and reassured her, then took out my cell phone from my pocket.

The time was about an hour before midnight.

It was decision time.

When I opened the message window to write down the correct answer, I hesitated for a moment.

Is it really right to use this one out of three opportunity today?

Wouldn’t it be better to not be impatient and write when you have more confidence?

Even while looking at the empty window, I felt conflicted countless times.

“No.”

I shook my head to clear away the random thoughts.

Let’s assume this for a moment.

Let’s say that Ha-ryeong makes a big mistake while acting and his identity is revealed later than today.

Then, most likely, I will write down Haryeong’s name that day and win the bet.

But what does that mean?

If you can’t properly distinguish between Sujin and Ha-ryeong, and win with luck, it’s no different from using cheats by borrowing Ran’s power.

I really don’t want to adopt that method now that I still have time, unless I’m stuck in a corner because I made a mistake in two out of the three remaining opportunities.

I emptied my mind.

There is no need to be impatient from the first attempt. Let’s not think about anything else for now and just write down what I felt when I saw Sujin today.

After making that decision, I soon started secretly tapping the keyboard on my phone.

**

“Why?”

“Nothing.”

When she asked Ran, who was looking at her blankly, she shook her head.

After the fireworks show, the group returned to their rooms and each began to prepare for bed.

Meanwhile, Ran’s eyes were always focused on Ha-ryeong.

“Lend me a hand.”

“Hmm?”

Ran approached Ha-ryeong, who was sitting on the bed, and firmly held her right hand with both hands.

The action was so agile that even Haryeong, who was on guard, had no time to defend himself.

An image of Ran desperately thinking about something with her eyes tightly closed.

Looking at her like that, Ha-ryeong suddenly thought.

Has Ran ever approached Sujin like this before?

As far as she knew, the relationship between the two was very bad.

In fact, she got really angry when she stepped on the sand castle Ran had built during the day, pretending it was a mistake.

“…!”

Ran looked at her with a surprised expression.

The change was so sudden that Haryeong almost lost the mask she had been wearing all day. Could it be that he was seen through? Not to anyone else but to a child like this?

I wanted to ask him why he was making that kind of expression.

But that’s not Sujin’s character.

“How long are you going to hold on?”

“…!”

I pulled my hand out of Ran’s hand as unnaturally as possible.

There are not just two people in the room now.

No noticeable action could be shown here.

Ran, who was so surprised, opened his eyes wide and opened his mouth to say something.

However, after a while, his face turned glum and he trudged back to his bed.

‘…what was it?’

The night deepened, leaving Haryeong alone with his doubts.

Tiring.

Late at night when everyone is asleep.

Ha-ryeong, who was lying in bed and pretending to be asleep, opened his eyes to the sound of his cell phone vibrating next to his bed.

12 o’clock.

The scheduled text message arrived on time.

It was a little surprising.

I thought I’d see you for a day or two more.

Is that the basis for winning?

Her dish she made this evening.

Unlike Su-jin, who was insensitive, Ha-ryeong, who was sensitive to people’s emotions, knew that Su-jin’s cooking skills were the worst. There were more than a few times when I laughed inwardly at the sight of everyone not being able to control their facial expressions while eating the dishes Sujin made.

‘But it’s far.’

As Yoo-seong expected, Ha-ryeong does not have a unique aesthetic sense like Su-jin.

The moment I actually put the food in my mouth, I felt it tasted like food waste, similar to other people.

However, it’s just that Ha-ryeong’s mask is not broken.

That’s right, when I was imprisoned by my mother, I was often subjected to not only physical torture but also food torture.

Does that person know that when you chew a live mouse, it leaves a sour taste along with a nauseating fishy taste?

The person who could keep a smiling face while chewing rotten and mushy cheese was a man named Haryeong.

When I checked the text message she sent, the answer was just as expected.

‘Two more times.’

he doesn’t know

The fact that this first answer had the highest probability of winning a bet with her.

After that, in the remaining opportunities, the probability of getting it right will drop exponentially.

If I had to calculate the probability, it would be less than 10%?

And at the last chance, it will be almost 0%.

Little did he realize that there was an invisible trap hidden in this bet that seemed overwhelmingly against her.

A wry smile appeared on Haryeong’s lips as he operated his cell phone.