episode_0088

Sparkling signs.

Cars crawling by with their lights on.

Young people gathering in groups of twos and threes dressed in fancy clothes.

Even drunk people sitting in front of the bar, hugging their bags and sleeping soundly.

They say the night in the city never goes out.

Even though it was deep dawn, the streets of Gangnam were still brightly lit.

“… … .”

Seol Joo-hee, who was being dragged away by Do Ji-hyuk, was very confused.

The same goes for Do Ji-hyeok’s actions of suddenly appearing and dragging her away without saying a word.

The same goes for his actions of deliberately taking unused cash to buy illegal drugs,

From one to ten, everything was just confusing.

‘… it’s annoying… .’

Seol Joo-hee resisted by pulling on her arm, which was tightly held.

“… Let go of this.”

Then Do Ji-hyuk slowly stopped walking and looked back… .

“… … .”

He looked at her in silence, then silently pulled her arm and started walking again.

“It hurts… !”

Seol Joo-hee tries to shake off her hand with the excuse that her wrist hurts.

In fact, she wasn’t in any pain.

Because I wasn’t so weak that it hurt just to be held by my hand.

This was something Do Ji-hyuk also knew very well.

however.

Sreuk-

Suddenly, Do Ji-hyuk stopped walking and obediently let go of his hand.

“… … .”

Seol Ju-hee felt a faint sense of liberation and at the same time, an inexplicable feeling of regret, and tried to slowly pull out her arm.

Right then.

Suddenly-

Do Ji-hyuk held her hand.

“!”

Seol Joo-hee felt her heart sink for a moment and opened her eyes wide and looked blankly at Do Ji-hyuk.

“Okay?”

Do Ji-hyuk, who unilaterally received confirmation, began to drag Seol Joo-hee away again.

“… … .”

Seol Joo-hee was very displeased with Do Ji-hyuk’s behavior.

Because I was caught up in that hint.

The fact that he held her hand with the same hand that had touched another woman was so disgusting,

I felt intense anger at his behavior, which I had pretended not to know until now, but was now interfering with me.

but.

For some reason, she didn’t feel like resisting.

No, I could have easily shaken it off, but I didn’t do it on purpose.

I was worried that I might lose it, but his large hand was holding me tightly, and it felt as if it was correcting my wandering.

I calmly followed him.

*

Seol Joo-hee’s house arrived by taxi.

It felt like so long ago that I had no idea how long it had been since I had been in this neighborhood, but it also felt strangely familiar, as if I had come back to my hometown.

“… How far are we going?”

“Your house.”

I answered Seol Joo-hee’s question resolutely and approached the front door, where I entered the password with my free hand.

Beep-clack-

I tried it, but the password still didn’t seem to change.

“Come in.”

“… … .”

I forcibly led Seol Ju-hee, who refused to go in, into the house, turned on the lights in the dark living room, and made her sit on the sofa.

“Ha… .”

Obediently sitting on the sofa, she sighed and began to take off her hat and sunglasses.

Soon, he took off his mask and made eye contact with a very sharp look.

A fierce look as if asking, ‘What are we going to do now?’

I guess he didn’t know what he had done… .

He seemed to have no idea how surprised I was watching him.

“You… .”

I barely managed to stop the swearing that was about to burst out at that moment, and I took a deep breath and desperately tried to calm down my anger.

I prayed that Seol Joo-hee would not be the kind of person who pays money for such trash.

I guess I just saw it wrong.

I firmly believed that my abilities had briefly malfunctioned and that Seol Joo-hee’s status window was displayed incorrectly.

So even after confirming that it was her, I did not immediately intervene.

It was just by chance that I was passing through an alley, and I may have made a serious misunderstanding.

I put aside all other matters and watched her actions until the end.

but… .

She stopped walking in a dark square.

The moment the white powder stuck in the crack in the wall disappeared into her pocket.

My faith was shattered.

“… Give it to me.”

I desperately suppressed my anger and reached out to Seol Joo-hee.

I was planning on taking any action after taking the medicine.

however.

“… What?”

She looked away and started to stomp away.

‘… Let’s calm down… .’

I was upset for a moment, but I calmly continued talking with the idea of taking medicine first.

“You put it in your pocket earlier. I saw it all.”

“… I didn’t put it in?”

“Sol Joo-hee. Give it when you say something nice.”

“Are you threatening me now?”

“uh.”

Did he not like my pushy attitude?

“… Why should I give it to you?”

Seol Joo-hee started to rebel against me with a wrinkled expression.

“Who are you, telling me to do this or that? What should I do if you tell me to do it and not do it if you tell me not to do it?”

“Sol Joo-hee.”

“And. Why were you there? Are you there too… .”

“Sol Joo-hee!!!”

In the end, I couldn’t control my anger at the sarcasm and inadvertently raised my voice.

“Do you think you did a good job now? You did something like that in front of me, and how dare you say something like that!!”

And after a while.

‘ah.’

When I came to my senses late, I realized that I had made a mistake.

The opponent is Seol Joo-hee.

She had a more irritable personality than anyone else.

‘… shit… .’

I thought for sure she would get angry and fight back.

however.

“… … .”

For a moment, I don’t know what happened, but Seol Joo-hee’s eyes, which were looking at me, slightly relaxed… .

“… What should I do?”

A completely unexpected reaction began to appear.

“What would you do if I said that?”

I was a little taken aback by her reaction upon seeing her for the first time.

When I got angry, I got angry, because I had never reacted like this to hearing a loud noise.

“What are you going to do? Why can’t I speak?”

Seol Joo-hee forcibly raised the corners of her mouth as if she was laughing at me, gently scratching my anger.

As if he expects me to get angry.

“Because of you, I couldn’t even pay for the medicine. If you get blacklisted like this, will you take responsibility?”

I couldn’t hear anything, so I opened my mouth quietly to cover her mouth.

“Moderately… .”

Right at that moment.

“If you don’t behave appropriately, are you going to hit me?”

Seol Joo-hee cut me off.

“… What?”

Seol Joo-hee gulps, swallows, and gives a subtle look with a strange twinkle in her eye.

Her pretty face was slightly tilted forward, and it looked as if it would touch the palm of her hand if she swung her arm.

“… … .”

After looking at her like that for a moment, I sighed briefly and slowly wiped my face.

It just felt weird.

It is strange that Seol Joo-hee, who shined brighter than anyone else, turned to drugs.

It was also strange that he was truly angry for her.

really… . Everything felt disappointing.

“Phew… .”

I took a deep breath, made eye contact with Seol Joo-hee again, looked at her indifferently and said.

“… okay. Just do it yourself. Doing drugs, whatever… . Just do whatever you want.”

OK.

“… Huh?”

She looked slightly embarrassed, as if she hadn’t expected it.

I sighed out of a feeling of skepticism and continued speaking calmly.

“I’m sorry. Just pretending to know for no reason. You probably don’t want to see me like that, so I’m really sorry for nagging you for no reason.”

“… … .”

Seol Joo-hee looked at me, rolling her eyes here and there, as if she didn’t know what to do.

After looking at her like that for a while, I left a request that came to mind later.

“… Just in case… . Please don’t recommend it to Arin. Please just do it yourself.”

I was afraid that she would even corrupt Im Ah-rin.

“… Take care.”

After saying hello, I quietly walked away, leaving Seol Joo-hee behind.

Anymore… .

I didn’t want to face her.

*

A family left alone.

“… … .”

Seol Ju-hee absentmindedly took out the medicine in her pocket.

It was so well sealed that even though it had been roughed up, it was still well packaged.

Tuk-

Bags of pure white powder are rolling around on the floor.

Even though Seol Ju-hee had not yet taken any medication, she began to sink into a swamp of terrible emotions.

If I had just taken medicine, I would have been happy for a little while.

Now I don’t even feel like it.

“… Black… .”

Tears cover my face.

I liked it when Do Ji-hyuk got angry at me, so I provoked him.

“… Ugh… .”

I can’t sleep alone without medicine.

“… Wow… .”

In the end, I felt happy for a moment because he was kind to me, even though I was a pathetic person who was looking for drugs.

“… Hmm… .”

but… .

In the end, I ruined everything with my own hands.

“… Hmm… .”

Do Ji-hyuk was very disappointed and left,

Now I am really alone.

“… Ugh, huh… .”

Has the feeling of being miserable ever been this painful?

I just thought it would be nice to get a little more attention.

a little bit… .

I just wanted to fill my empty heart just a little bit.

Slurp-

“Keuuk… .Black… .”

Seol Joo-hee collapsed on the sofa and burst into tears.

I was so miserable with myself that I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer.