episode_0089

“……”

Cheon Soyul sat blankly in her room. She wasn’t doing anything in particular; if anything, she was just scanning the empty air with her eyes.

Her pupils rolled around unsuitably, making her look incredibly strange.

Perhaps anyone else who knew her would involuntarily shiver if they saw her like this now, as if they’d seen a ghost.

So, what was she thinking, what was she recalling?

‘Ryu Seeun, Ryu Seeun…’

It was a rather simple thought, more so than expected. A thought about a junior student one year below her.

However, Cheon Soyul didn’t know much about her.

In fact, there was no real connection to speak of; if she had to pick one, perhaps it was their encounter in the hallway when she heard about Lee Hyunjin’s affair (?).

So, she didn’t know much in depth about the junior, Ryu Seeun.

Many things, including her most basic personality. She didn’t even know if something more had happened between her and Lee Hyunjin after that.

No, she probably guessed it wasn’t ‘nothing.’ It must have been *something* for the situation to escalate like that.

…In other words, she was thinking about the subtly sweet atmosphere Ryu Seeun and Lee Hyunjin created during the tournament semifinals.

Of course, Cheon Soyul was also at the scene (?) at the time. She had watched it live from quite close by.

That’s why she remembered. It was still incredibly vivid. The moment Ryu Seeun placed her hand on Lee Hyunjin’s cheek and said something strange.

It was impossible to hear exactly what she said… but it must have been related to something like that, right? Like romance.

Judging by a woman’s intuition, it seemed the junior, Ryu Seeun, had quite a lot of affection and interest in her husband.

‘…A cat burglar…’

Cheon Soyul unconsciously mumbled that phrase to herself. Unexpectedly, she was experiencing the uncommon emotion of jealousy.

Well, it wasn’t exactly an emotion one would expect to feel when they’ve already allowed another woman to share intimacy with their partner…

But it was a little different. Probably very different, this. Perhaps the difference between what she directly allowed and what she hadn’t permitted at all, a radical flirtation.

In reality, even if Ryu Seeun had spent a night with Lee Hyunjin, Cheon Soyul probably wouldn’t have cared much.

Perhaps under the pretext of building camaraderie with a junior, the three of them might have even done something together (?). Though that wasn’t certain.

Anyway, the core of the matter was this: the series of events that took place in the stadium had nothing to do with Cheon Soyul’s will.

She couldn’t get involved or interfere. The very fact that a situation beyond her reach had occurred was deeply displeasing.

Whether she herself had allowed messy relationships with other women or not, that didn’t matter.

Aside from being able to be such a tolerant wife, Cheon Soyul undoubtedly had a sense of possessiveness.

The various mischievous acts Lee Hyunjin had committed until now had precariously avoided crossing the ‘line’ that would trigger her possessiveness—

But now, in her mind, Ryu Seeun was the only woman who had crossed that line.

Should she perhaps praise it as an achievement?

“…Hmph.”

Cheon Soyul let out a hollow laugh, sweeping her light brown hair back.

As expected, this wouldn’t do. Staying still wouldn’t satisfy her. In many ways.

“Alright.”

She sprang up from the bed and immediately got dressed. Although it was her day off, there was no reason she couldn’t go out if she wanted to.

She intended to head to the Class A booth, where Lee Hyunjin was probably busy working.

She had ignored all the messages that came in today, leaving them unread. But even as she ‘ghosted’ those messages, her own impatience wasn’t much different from anyone else’s.

Perhaps it would be more comforting to make him kneel and hear him out directly.

‘…Now that I think about it, he’ll probably be wearing a butler’s uniform today.’

With that thought, Cheon Soyul left the dormitory, her steps a little lighter and her mood somewhat invigorated as she headed to the booth.

And then her eyes met Baek Ayun, who was sitting alone, munching on snacks without any alcohol.

“Oh…”

“…Huh?”

Cheon Soyul was flustered.

Baek Ayun felt embarrassed.

She had just stuffed her mouth full of food and was chewing like a squirrel, a sight she definitely didn’t want anyone she knew to see.

And of all people to be caught by, it had to be Cheon Soyul.

As same-sex friends, they were practically the closest in the academy, but recently, the two female students had grown a little awkward with each other.

Baek Ayun urgently clutched her chest and chugged cold water. She needed to compose herself, so she also pulled out some tissues.

“…Ahem, long time no see, Soyul-ssi.”

“Oh, uh-huh…”

Baek Ayun, having straightened her posture, greeted Cheon Soyul with a polite smile.

Neither the one offering nor the one receiving the greeting felt particularly natural, unfortunately…

Regardless, their mutual conversation began. It was a subtly unnatural atmosphere, but that couldn’t be helped.

It was Baek Ayun who spoke first.

“Soyul-ssi, I heard you have the day off today.”

“…Oh? Ah, yeah. That’s right.”

“So, you just came out to hang out…?”

At the short question, Cheon Soyul was momentarily speechless.

She wondered what to say, but the answer was actually set.

She scratched her cheek with an embarrassed expression, slightly avoiding Baek Ayun’s gaze. Then, without evasion, she answered honestly.

“I came to see Lee Hyunjin. I have something brief to talk about. He’s probably working around this time, yeah.”

“Oh, is that so…?”

At her answer, Baek Ayun made a subtle expression, her eyes rolling slightly.

Cheon Soyul was puzzled by her rather suspicious reaction for a moment, then soon noticed something was off.

Come to think of it, Lee Hyunjin wasn’t there. The pub, or rather, the booth, wasn’t even that big.

Cheon Soyul, who had been looking around for him, wore a flustered expression.

“…Hyunjin-ssi stepped out for a bit, they said.”

“Oh, what?”

It was Baek Ayun in front of her who gave her the answer. Baek Ayun chewed on a peanut and casually gestured towards the kitchen with her eyes.

“I also heard from Rachel-ssi… She said he went out to take an acquaintance, a senior, home because they were very drunk.”

“……”

“It’s been about 40 minutes since then, they said…? Ah, now it’s probably exactly an hour. He should have had enough time to come back, but as you can see, Rachel-ssi is also very angry and waiting for him. Hmm.”

Baek Ayun paused her words and watched Cheon Soyul’s reaction. Though she didn’t explicitly mention it, she probably guessed the gender of that ‘acquaintance senior’ from experience.

Despite that, her expression was quite mild. At least, it hadn’t instantly turned cold.

Rather, it was a subtly ambiguous expression, perhaps? It sounds contradictory, but it also seemed like she was finding something interesting…

Because of that, Baek Ayun couldn’t easily read Cheon Soyul’s true feelings.

‘…Well, something’s strange.’

Usually, shouldn’t she either get angry or completely calm down? At least with Cheon Soyul’s personality as she knew it, that would be typical.

She found herself in a situation where saying more was awkward, but saying nothing was also strange.

To be honest, Baek Ayun couldn’t quite consider Cheon Soyul a completely comfortable friend at this point. There was a slight sense of unease.

Because of this, she watched for cues, then very cautiously stood up from her seat.

“Uh, Soyul-ssi. I, uh, have somewhere I need to go right now… Hahaha, n-next time, if there’s a chance, let’s have a drink together…?”

Grab!

“Huh?”

And Baek Ayun found her wrist seized by Cheon Soyul’s grip.

She looked down at Cheon Soyul, her eyes wide with surprise.

Her expression was still the same. Subtle, as if she were thinking something, but somehow it also seemed a little more profound than before.

Cheon Soyul slightly lifted her head and spoke to Baek Ayun.

“…You don’t really have any plans, do you? Why are you suddenly lying to me?”

“…Huh?”

“I have a lot to talk to you about. It’s uncomfortable to keep things awkward like this, and if possible, I want to clear things up completely. Ayun.”

Cold sweat began to trickle down Baek Ayun’s cheeks, drop by drop. She hadn’t expected Cheon Soyul to bring it up so directly.

She was still fumbling for words, her lips merely fluttering.

“…Well, actually. Um.”

Cheon Soyul slightly relaxed the serious expression she had been wearing and, as if somewhat embarrassed, shifted her gaze away from Baek Ayun.

Just as Baek Ayun felt even greater bewilderment at her sudden change in demeanor.

“…If you’re free right now.”

Cheon Soyul seemed to force the words out, braving her embarrassment.

Her gaze was still directed to the side.

“Would you like to go somewhere with me? First, um, let’s go there, and then we can talk about us.”

“…Huh…?”

“A-aren’t you curious? About what other woman that Lee Hyunjin guy is messing around with…?”

And at her following words, Baek Ayun couldn’t help but gape.

Cheon Soyul, oblivious to her reaction, felt her own cheeks flush red.

At this moment, she was sitting in her chair, twisting her legs. She squirmed, rubbing her thighs together, as if somewhat erotically ‘stimulating’ something.

“Gasp.”

Watching her friend, who exuded such sensuality, right in front of her… Baek Ayun, realizing the meaning of that gesture, felt her face instantly flush deep red.

For some reason, she too suddenly felt her body grow hot.