episode_0147

147.

The night was shrouded in a deep, dusky darkness.

The vast mansion of Yuseolhyun was filled with a quiet sense of stillness.

The living room, bathed in a soft moonlight, was mostly painted in a dark black, like ink.

At the time when even the stars high above were peacefully asleep, Jinsuyeon and Yuseolhyun faced each other.

For a very brief moment, their gazes met.

An unknown silence lingered in the air.

Jinsuyeon broke the silence.

“A conversation?”

“Yeah.”

Yuseolhyun, with a somewhat innocent expression, chuckled and sat cross-legged across from Jinsuyeon.

The glimpses of elegance peeking through her clothes were quite striking.

“Sometimes, having a conversation like this isn’t so bad, right?”

She rested her chin on her hand, flashing a charming smile.

“Don’t you think?”

“….”

Jinsuyeon pursed her lips.

Then, with a quiet gaze, she stared intently at Yuseolhyun’s face, which was shamelessly smiling.

She had always thought that Yuseolhyun’s laughter carried an unknown maturity and elegance.

Could it be described as a subtle allure that drew others in?

That’s why Jinsuyeon disliked that laughter.

Because that kind of smile was usually reserved for when he was around. Yuseolhyun probably habitually smiled like that, but to put it bluntly, it was a smile that flirted with men indiscriminately.

“It seems like whenever we’re alone, we always end up arguing, right?”

“Hmm, well, that’s true, isn’t it?”

Jinsuyeon’s blunt words seemed to amuse Yuseolhyun, who covered her mouth as if finding it funny.

Whenever Jinsuyeon and Yuseolhyun had set aside time to talk alone like this, it almost always ended in a quarrel, even though there was no intention to fight.

Seeing that, it could be said that Jinsuyeon and Yuseolhyun had a bad dynamic.

It was like a cat-and-dog relationship.

But despite that, the reason why the two of them got along was because they had a common denominator in Lee Jinhyuk and they respected each other.

As colleagues and as enemies.

“Come to think of it, last time we just argued and it ended, right?”

“If it was last time….”

The last time the two of them had a conversation alone was the day before Jinsuyeon went missing.

That day, as usual, they had stabbed each other in the heart with sharp words.

“To be honest, I felt a bit uneasy because it seemed like you made that choice partly because of me.”

Yuseolhyun, who had blamed Jinsuyeon for Lee Jinhyuk’s death, had made Jinsuyeon uncomfortable until now.

If they hadn’t fought that day, Jinsuyeon might have made a different choice.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.”

But Jinsuyeon just shook her head sideways.

“It was just a matter of time. Even if you hadn’t said that, I was planning to act alone.”

Yuseolhyun’s words had been the final blow, but even if they hadn’t argued, Jinsuyeon would have moved forward for Lee Jinhyuk’s revenge.

“So?”

“Hmm?”

“If you say so.”

Yuseolhyun shrugged nonchalantly.

“So, Yuseolhyun.”

“What?”

“What did you want to say? You didn’t take the time to talk just for nothing, right?”

“Hmm?”

Yuseolhyun made a snorting sound and lifted the corner of her mouth.

“Well, it’s true that… Oh, right.”

As if she had just remembered, she clapped her hands.

“Soyeon, didn’t you say to me last time that if things had been as they were, you would have become a villain?”

“Oh.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? That I’m a villain?”

A while ago, in the cult building, during the time when emotions were running high due to the reenactment of the sea rescue, she blurted out words without much thought.

“That is….”

Jin Soyeon hesitated for a moment, dragging out the tail of her words.

She hesitated slightly on whether she should say it or not.

But Yoo Seolhyun already knew about Lee Jinhyuk’s precognitive abilities and considered it a cooperative relationship, so she concluded that it was okay to say it.

So, Jin Soyeon roughly explained.

The contents of Lee Jinhyuk’s notebook regarding the original future.

“Hmm.”

For a moment, Jin Soyeon spoke while Yoo Seolhyun listened quietly, her chin resting on her hand as she fell silent for a moment.

That’s how shocking Jin Soyeon’s story was.

Because in Jin Soyeon’s story, Yoo Seolhyun appeared as quite a malicious villain.

An evil person who envied her talent, beauty, and abilities, a typical villain who would be jealous.

Moreover, if things had gone as planned, the Yeongdeung Mountain hero rescue mission would have failed. Come to think of it, Lee Jinhyuk was the one who came forward first to help, right?

Why did he save her?

To torment Jin Soyeon in the future as a villain?

If so, it could truly be considered sincere. Even though they were like family, no one would appreciate it, yet he volunteered to suffer.

“I heard you well. It’s quite interesting.”

Of course, trusting Jin Soyeon’s words 100% was not possible.

But considering Lee Jinhyuk’s accuracy in predicting the future so far, it was likely to be true.

A villain.

For her, who had dreamed of being a hero, it was quite a shocking story.

Of course, Yoo Seolhyun’s personality was by no means good, but she never imagined that she would become a villain.

“Come to think of it, there were some strange words written in Jinhyuk’s notebook. Like calling you an evil heroine or me a villainess.”

“Interesting expressions.”

When Jin Soyeon muttered with a puzzled expression, Yoo Seolhyun chuckled.

An evil heroine? A villainess?

It was probably a kind of metaphor, but Lee Jinhyuk had expressed it in an interesting way.

Well, for him, Jin Soyeon was the heroine and Yoo Seolhyun was no different from a villainess.

“Villainess. It sounds like something that would appear in a cookie-cutter romance fantasy novel?”

“What, Yoo Seolhyun, you know about that too?”

“I really like genre novels. So I heard a little bit through the grapevine.”

Yoo Seolhyun had gained some knowledge about such things because she occasionally chattered about genre novels that Suh Nari liked.

“Must be nice, Soyeon?”

“What is?”

“Jinhyuk thinks of you as the heroine, right?”

“Well, um…”

Jin Soyeon scratched her cheek slightly, looking a bit embarrassed by being described as a heroine in words, but it seemed like she didn’t dislike it either.

It was a testament to how important she was to Lee Jinhyuk.

But.

“But do you know that?”

Yoo Seolhyun smiled seductively.

“Isn’t it common for childhood friends to play the role of the defeated heroine?”

“What?”

At Yoo Seolhyun’s sudden words, Jin Soyeon furrowed her brow slightly.

“Nari said that, right? Nowadays, the trend is reincarnated villainesses or something like that? Hehe.”

“You? What’s that supposed to mean?”

At Yoo Seolhyun’s behavior, which seemed to imply that being a childhood friend meant being a fake heroine, Jin Soyeon felt a strange sense of resistance.

No, aside from that, why is Yoo Seolhyun suddenly saying such things?

“Yoo Seolhyun, what on earth do you mean by that….”

“Soyeon.”

Yoo Seolhyun abruptly cut off Jin Soyeon, who was trying to dig into the details, and continued the conversation with a nonchalant expression.

“It’s about Lee Jinhyuk. He’s a pretty decent guy, isn’t he? Right?”

A sudden shift in the topic of conversation.

However, Yoo Seolhyun just smiled casually and pursed her lips.

“Sacrificing one’s life for someone else is not something to be taken lightly.”

Even if one is called a hero, sacrificing one’s life is not an easy task.

“How many times?”

Only for you, Jin Soyeon.

“When I saw you again. Everyone was hesitating after seeing you covered in blood.”

Except for Lee Jinhyuk.

He confidently took a step towards Jin Soyeon, who had a fierce expression on her face.

“In the end, he was stabbed with a knife.”

“Ugh.”

Jin Soyeon swallowed a short sigh in an instant.

No matter how much it was a mistake, the fact that Lee Jinhyuk hurt her caused Jin Soyeon to feel guilty.

“Even after that, he didn’t blame you and treated you normally, right? If he were an ordinary person, it might have been awkward, but Lee Jinhyuk didn’t show any signs of that.”

It must mean that he values Jin Soyeon that much.

“I envy that a bit.”

Having someone who unconditionally cares for you and is by your side.

“I used to have someone like that too, but I always hesitated and kept my feelings hidden… and in the end, it was too late.”

Yoo Seolhyun muttered with a slightly bitter expression.

Her mother, who was the only support in her childhood.

Her frail mother, who was half-neglected in this suffocating household, eventually lost her life due to various misfortunes.

And Yoo Seolhyun regretted it.

Not expressing her feelings properly to her mother.

“I always seem to regret after losing something.”

When her mother died.

When Lee Jinhyuk died.

Yoo Seolhyun let out a hollow laugh at the fact that she doesn’t have the foolish aspect of regretting after losing something.

“I always have this habit of thinking about dignity or pride and end up being late.”

For her, who has lived competing with her siblings, revealing her weaknesses or true feelings was a very dangerous thing to do.

That’s why she was very reluctant to talk about sincere feelings that could become weaknesses.

But she didn’t want to regret it again.

Like before.

“So, I’ll tell you clearly now, Soyeon.”

“You.”

“Lee Jinhyuk.”

She slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

“Can I have him?”

She provocatively smiled.