episode_0260

What was the problem?

What could have gone wrong for her father to display his daughter as a commodity on a street vendor’s shelf?

I had a question, but it was also rude to ask such a question just because I was curious.

Is it because the moment you ask, you feel like you are related to it?

The mouth did not open carelessly.

And Choi Jin-ah, who was looking at me like that, smiled faintly, but it didn’t feel like a good thing at all.

It was that kind of smile.

As she watched me draw a clear line with silence, Choi Jin-ah slowly got up from her seat.

“Did I say something too heavy?”

“Everyone has a topic like that.”

Choi Jin-ah said, slightly bowing her head, “Let’s give it a try.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ask that of someone who already has a partner.”

“You haven’t said anything yet.”

Even though I tried hard to pretend that nothing happened between us.

“You already figured it out.”

She felt indifferent even though she was smiling, so she cautiously took a step back.

“I wonder what happened to me back then. I shouldn’t have called you here.”

“… … .”

“I’m sorry.”

After apologizing, Choi Jin-ah just walked away and disappeared into the crowd.

Is there somewhere else to go?

I don’t know, but I looked at her back for a moment and then turned my head towards Seo Ye-rin.

“Yerin, is there anything fun here? Should we go and take a look?”

I said that because I needed to lighten the mood, but Seo Ye-rin made an ambiguous expression.

“That guy, didn’t he call you because he wanted someone to help him?”

“… … .”

That’s true.

Perhaps he called me because he wanted something from me.

You might have hoped that I could do something to help people evaluate themselves and get by.

“That’s not my job.”

When you cut it coldly, you have to know how to do it.

Even though I had already said that I was going on a blind date last time, the three of them were worried and distressed.

I’m just emotional right now.

Because Choi Jin-ah looks pitiful.

If I continued to act that way, I could have lost the people I truly loved.

That was what scared me the most.

“Because Choi Jin-ah and I are strangers.”

Aren’t we now in an age where we can consider elementary school classmates as strangers?

Anyway, I don’t remember much of the memories.

Seo Ye-rin tilted her head at my words.

“Is that how it works? I don’t know.”

“What do you know? Let’s just play. Bonggeun said there are a lot of things to play with here.”

I heard that there are also games like bowling alleys, billiard halls, and dart rooms.

The deck was a bit noisy, so I planned to hang out inside with Seo Ye-rin and Joo-hee.

Seo Ye-rin is still standing firm in her seat.

“Woojin, did you help Senior Joohee become a bodyguard?”

“Yeah, right?”

“Can you call me?”

At those words, I turn my head and look towards where Senior Joohee is.

Senior Joo-hee, who was chatting briefly with other bodyguards from a distance, came over right away when she saw me looking for her, even though I didn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong?”

The senior who returned with a formal and stiff appearance after being away for a while.

Seo Ye-rin asked her senior directly.

“Senior! Last time you asked me to dress up for a date! That’s when you met Woojini!”

“Yes, huh?!”

Suddenly, it seems as if Joohee’s tongue has loosened and her pronunciation becomes strange.

Then he glanced at me, his gaze asking what was going on.

‘Ah, that’s it.’

I was going to buy Senior Joo-hee a meal to thank her for knocking down President Hwang, but she came dressed up in all her feminine attire.

And at that time, I received a confession that was ridiculous.

“Ah, that… …um, yes.”

Senior Joo-hee, who had been confident until just now, hesitates and struggles to answer.

“Are you still interested?”

“Huh?! No!”

A senior who answers with a straight face.

After hearing the answer, Seo Ye-rin taps the chair next to her and makes Joo-hee sit down.

“Senior, please be honest. Are you really not interested at all? I’m asking this as a junior in the English department.”

“Hoo.”

Senior Joo-hee took a deep breath and tried to come to her senses. Then she nodded and answered confidently.

“You can pretend it doesn’t exist.”

“… … .”

“Woojin is a kid who really helped me a lot. Of course, there was a time when I had feelings for him, and I can’t say for sure whether it’s completely sorted out… …but I can’t say for sure about that.”

Senior Joo-hee glanced at me and observed my expression. I unintentionally overheard her sincerity.

“I have something to do first. I don’t think those feelings will help much, even if it’s to repay Woojin for helping me.”

“That’s a really ambiguous answer.”

“I can’t help it, this is the truth.”

Senior Joohee’s gaze was briefly fixed on the wine glass, as if she was craving a drink.

Seo Ye-rin noticed that and offered it to him, but he shook his head.

“Working.”

The respect is back.

Seo Ye-rin, who saw that, crossed her arms and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something great, but-.

“It’s different from what I expected?!”

He started to get excited and make a fuss.

“Seo, senior, do you still have feelings for Woojini!? I thought you had given up on everything!”

“Huh, huh?”

“No, how did you get here like that! My heart is breaking!”

“No, wait. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Senior Joo-hee tries to calm down Seo Ye-rin, who is acting up.

I don’t really know why Seo Ye-rin called in senior Joo-hee and asked her this question.

Rather, because I didn’t say anything, I felt like what I had to do was vaguely determined by nuance, actions, and atmosphere.

“Anyway, I get what you mean, Yerin.”

Jump up from your seat.

It is clear that Seo Ye-rin felt something when she saw Choi Jin-ah and had something to say to me.

“I’ll be back in a bit. Senior Joohee, kick out all the weird guys coming around here. If there are any guys who cross the line, tell me my name.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“If you still go over it, I’ll beat you up, and I’ll take responsibility.”

“You’re a professional.”

Senior Joohee lowered her head while slightly raising the corners of her lips.

I was seen off by my senior and headed in the same direction that Choi Jin-ah had left.

* * *

‘What did you want to do?’

Choi Jin-ah, who ran away from the table where Kim Woo-jin was, soon reached the edge of the deck.

Even though it was summer, a cold wind blew across the river, and even though I was watching the river flow calmly, I still felt depressed.

Take a deep breath.

There was not even the slightest comfort.

This was not a place to breathe.

Although it was a cruise ship floating on the river, I still felt like I was submerged in the deep part of the river.

Even if you open your mouth to breathe underwater, you will only drink in the bloody water and hasten your death.

That’s what I did today.

If I see Kim Woo-jin, won’t something be solved?

If Kim Woo-jin comes, wouldn’t something happen?

That vague expectation was just shattered.

I opened my mouth to breathe, but it felt like I only swallowed water.

My back is getting more and more bent.

The sound of men’s footsteps following her, a world-renowned violinist.

I started to feel like I was being pushed against the railing.

At that moment, my head slowly began to bow.

“Wow, you got scammed too?”

“Hahaha! Comrades.”

What I heard behind me were the frivolous voices of women.

What caught my eye were the women who had just come out to seduce Kim Woo-jin.

It was the women that Ha In-ho had brought that came to see me.

I wonder if you have bad intentions because of what happened earlier.

Jinah Choi was suddenly worried, but they smiled and spoke to her in a friendly manner.

“우리도 까였어요. 개새끼들, 우리 가지고 딴 년들 꼬시려고 데려온 거였더라고.”

“Ha, what’s going on? What kind of Pokemon are we? If you tell us to go and seduce them, we’ll seduce them? At first, I thought they were just doing that, but now they look at me like I’m a total idiot.”

“Isn’t that just thinking about it a fucking piece of shit? Sending a woman to a man who has a girlfriend on purpose to seduce him, and making him feel betrayed to seduce him.”

“You have a peculiar taste. Ugh!”

As I listened to the two of them talking with me between them, my complicated head started to feel dizzy.

It seems like Ha In-ho and I ended up breaking up on bad terms.

Since it was a passenger ship, I couldn’t get off, so it seemed like I was just there.

“Is smoking prohibited here?”

“I don’t know, just spread it. You can’t get kicked out anyway.”

The two take out cigarettes, put them in their mouths, and look at Choi Jin-ah.

“Pisilau?”

“No… …I’ve never smoked before.”

My father always looked down on smoking, saying that only frivolous women smoked it.

“You speak strangely.”

“Yeah, hahaha, that’s so funny.”

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Did you say something strange?

When I asked them the question, they both answered while lighting cigarettes.

“Don’t people usually say they are non-smokers or don’t smoke?”

“What do you mean you’ve never smoked it? I guess you just haven’t had the chance to.”

“… … .”

That wasn’t a wrong statement.

It wasn’t something I decided.

I just didn’t have the chance to do it, and my father didn’t like it, so I didn’t do it.

Suddenly.

I had doubts about the women in front of me.

The way she dresses up extravagantly, the way she picks out random men to have fun with, and the way she just enjoys herself regardless of whether it’s harmful to her health or not.

That is different from oneself.

Because it seemed excessively free.

“Me too.”

Choi Jin-ah carefully extended her hand.

“Can I have just one?”

“Oh, right.”

“Just in case, this isn’t weird, it’s Marlboro.”

“Crazy, fucking hilarious. If I smoke here, it might look like drugs.”

Choi Jin-ah swallowed hard and took a cigarette.

I bite my lips as I watch myself with trembling fingers.

‘Oh, what’s the big deal about just smoking this one thing!’

You can also try to become free yourself.

Yes, not my father’s fish that lives locked in a big fish tank.

Really living your own life.

To become that kind of woman.

The moment Jinah Choi puts a cigarette in her mouth.

Bam!

Someone roughly snatched Choi Jin-ah’s cigarette away and crushed it.

“What are you doing? Do you smoke?”

At the sight of Kim Woo-jin frowning, Choi Jin-ah opened her mouth involuntarily.

“Why… … .”

The question of whether we had come this far was not followed.

“What is it? Why on earth did you call me?”

Kim Woo-jin’s questioning tone.

“I think you and your father are having some trouble. Is that why you called me?”

“… … Yes.”

In the oppressive atmosphere, Choi Jin-ah answered with difficulty in a voice that was getting smaller and smaller.

The first time I tried something different.

I hated Kim Woo-jin for stopping it, but I was also grateful.

“What exactly do you want? Revenge on your father? I can’t do something that grand.”

Although the words didn’t come out properly.

Because if I keep my mouth shut now, I know that I’m no different from the carp in the tank, squealing.

“Deviation… …this is it.”

Choi Jin-ah spoke with difficulty, but as gently as possible.

“Work, escape?”

Kim Woo-jin looked dumbfounded at the more straightforward answer than he had expected. He held out the crushed cigarette he was holding in his right hand and asked.

“Could this be it too?”

“Yes, yes. My father hated women who smoked, saying they were vulgar.”

“Vulgar?!”

“Wow, what kind of era is this, Father!”

The two women who were listening to the drama from the side shouted out in an excited tone.

Kim Woo-jin sighed and ignored it.

“Haa, this is so stupid. Are you acting out because of your resistance to your father? What kind of high school student are you?”

“… … .”

Choi Jin-ah had nothing to say.

Because what Kim Woo-jin said was right.

All you’re trying to do is deviate.

Isn’t that ridiculous?

“This isn’t how you resist or take revenge. In the end, it’s just going to ruin my body, so why bother doing this?”

“Oh, okay?”

“Yes, so… … .”

Kim Woo-jin, who was trying to explain how to do it, was speechless.

When I actually tried to say something, nothing really came to mind.

“Erai, I don’t know. Let’s go for now! You came to the right place!”

“Yes?”

Kim Woo-jin grabbed Choi Jin-ah’s wrist and shouted while leading her away.

“There’s a lot of deviation here! I’ve been an expert on this since elementary school!”

Elementary school days.

A self-proclaimed problem child who has committed numerous deviant acts.

Selling fake cards at high prices.

Go out and buy ramen and make a profit.

He said he wanted to play baseball but ended up breaking countless windows.

At that time, in those days.

He was the boy who was talked about by many people, but that was also the reason he was the boy he admired.

“Let’s go!”

After a long time, now, I finally started to lead myself.

“Let’s just make a mess here!”