Chapter 113
Ji Nuri folded her arms and went over what her older sister had said again and again.
That kind of vibe….
That kind of vibe, huh.
Did she mean it romantically?
Judging by her tone, that seemed to be the only possible meaning.
“……Romantically?”
Ji Nuri checked once again that she had understood correctly.
“Then what else would it be?”
Jihyori half-lidded her eyes.
She reacted as though it was absurd that Nuri genuinely hadn’t known.
“No…….”
Ji Nuri tried to understand, but couldn’t.
“Those two? Really?”
“That’s how it looks to me.”
Jihyori answered calmly.
“……What exactly are you looking at to come to that conclusion?”
Had there really been some sign of that between Lee Seungho and those two?
Honestly, she had no idea.
She tried to think back, but couldn’t remember clearly.
“What should I call it…… Doesn’t it just jump out at you?”
“No? I don’t see it.”
“The way they look at him is different. Their eyes.”
“……”
Ji Nuri’s expression became utterly incredulous.
What was this nonsense about their eyes?
Weren’t people’s gazes all more or less the same?
“Couldn’t you have seen it wrong? You only met them for the first time earlier.”
They hadn’t even been acquainted for very long.
How could she say it with such certainty?
At that question, Jihyori shrugged.
“That’s why I said I wasn’t sure. It’s just a feeling. That’s all.”
Jihyori continued speaking as she swiped through her phone screen. The audio changed almost instantly, so she must have been watching Shorts.
“What the— Don’t scare me like that.”
In the end, wasn’t it nothing more than speculation?
Some of the tension left Ji Nuri’s expression.
“Hmm…… But from where I’m standing, it really does seem certain.”
Jihyori tilted her chin as she chewed on an apple.
“……”
Ji Nuri’s brows drew together at that.
Jihyori shot her a sidelong glance and continued.
“Don’t worry about it too much. It’s just a hunch.”
“Right? It’s just a hunch?”
“Ah—but I’m telling you, it’s really true. I’m almost never wrong about things like this.”
“……”
Ugh.
She was teasing her on purpose.
Realizing that, Ji Nuri’s brows drooped.
“……Forget it.”
Ji Nuri sprang to her feet.
She wasn’t going to ask anything else.
If she kept asking, it would only drag out this pointless back-and-forth.
“Hey, Ji Nuri.”
“……”
At the voice, Ji Nuri didn’t answer. Instead, she turned her body slightly away.
“If you really can’t tell, watch which way their bodies are facing when they’re talking. Even without looking, they’ll probably be turned toward him.”
“……”
Ji Nuri entered her room without answering.
Creak—
The bedroom door slowly closed.
Though she was alone in the room, her folded arms showed no sign of coming undone.
“……”
Rattle-rattle-rattle.
One of her thighs moved, creating an up-and-down vibration.
“Tsk……”
It was bothering her.
It was bothering her like crazy.
There was no way it couldn’t.
She wanted to confirm with her own eyes whether it was really true. But starting tomorrow, it was the weekend again, so she wouldn’t be going to school.
What an absurd coincidence.
“……”
Ji Nuri picked up her phone.
The numbers of the two girls appeared in her contacts.
She stared down at them.
“Whew.”
Then she soon put the phone down.
“I can’t exactly ask them directly…….”
No matter how she looked at it, asking them outright felt awkward.
“Ah, whateverrr—”
Ji Nuri flopped down onto her bed.
She tossed and turned on the soft fabric.
“……She didn’t have to say something like that and make me worry.”
This was all her sister’s fault.
“……”
……But.
If it really was true.
It was an extremely unlikely possibility, but if the two of them really did have feelings for Lee Seungho.
Then.
“……What should I do?”
More importantly, didn’t Lee Seungho like her?
That was the biggest problem.
It would be just like what had happened before happening again.
She meant the time she had quit the band club.
She had even received a direct confession back then, so she had fled as though running away.
“……”
There would be no administrative problem with leaving the counseling club itself.
But.
……Honestly, she didn’t want to do that.
Life in the counseling club was more satisfying than anything. She had fun spending time with the others, too.
“Enough, enough.”
Ji Nuri decided to stop worrying about it.
It wasn’t even certain to begin with. It was nothing more than her sister’s guess.
She’d find out whether it was really true when she saw them next week.
“Hmm.”
This was the right decision.
Ji Nuri nodded to herself, affirming her judgment.
“Hmm…….”
……But.
But, if by some reeeally slim chance it was true—
And so Ji Nuri’s endless worrying began.
* * *
Ta-ra-ra-ra—! Ta-ra-ra—!
Saturday morning….
Well, it was already eleven, so it wasn’t morning anymore. It was lunchtime.
I turned off the blaring alarm and got out of bed with a dazed look on my face.
“Ugh……!”
My body felt stiff.
I wanted to sleep more, but I couldn’t. I had work at my part-time job today.
I opened my bedroom door and stepped into the living room.
‘It’s quiet.’
Despite it being the weekend, the house was silent.
I went into the kitchen and gulped down cold water.
It cooled my throat, which had dried out overnight.
“……”
I could see Lee Seungah lying on the sofa, scratching her belly.
“Heh-heh….”
She was snickering as she watched TV.
When I walked over, an animated show was playing on the screen.
What was that called again?
I remembered Ji Nuri recommending it, but the title wouldn’t come to me.
“……”
Whenever our parents weren’t home, she always came out to watch it in the living room.
She said the bigger screen made it better.
“Hey.”
I planted myself right in front of the sofa.
“……What do you want? Move.”
Lee Seungah’s brows lowered as she pressed the remote and paused the screen.
“Where are Mom and Dad?”
“They went out for a bit.”
“Really?”
No wonder I hadn’t seen them.
They must have gone out on a date for the first time in a while.
“Then what are you going to do about lunch?”
If they still weren’t back, they probably weren’t planning to come home for lunch.
“They said to figure it out myself.”
As she said that, she pulled out the cash in her pocket and fluttered it at me.
She had already been given money for food.
“Want to order something? Pizza? Chicken?”
Lee Seungah looked excited at the prospect of eating delivery food.
She asked with triumphant eyes, as if she were the one treating me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time for that.
“Take care of your own food.”
“Huh? Are you going somewhere?”
Lee Seungah blinked.
She looked puzzled as she watched me moving hurriedly.
“Work.”
“Aha.”
Lee Seungah soon lost interest.
She turned her gaze back to the TV.
I quickly finished getting ready to leave. After showering and changing clothes, I stood by the shoe cabinet.
“I’m leaving.”
Ah, right.
I stopped just as I was about to leave and raised my voice toward the girl lying in the living room.
“Come to the gym before dinner.”
“……”
“Answer me.”
“……Ah. I know, so hurry up and go.”
Her tone was full of complaints.
It looked like she would have skipped it if I hadn’t said anything. This was closer to certainty than a mere prediction.
Still, now that I’d told her, she’d come on her own.
I headed to the store.
‘…Ah, I almost forgot.’
I had to tell my manager that I was quitting my part-time job.
Now that I’d agreed to help Isol film her social media content, there was no reason to keep working there.
The real start would probably come after I quit.
‘I should ask soon.’
We also needed to discuss what kind of videos to film for posting on social media.
Before I knew it, I had arrived at the store while thinking about that.
Jingle—
“Hello.”
I entered the store through the back door.
The part-timers rushing around and the people preparing to take over their shifts were all mingling together.
Maybe because it was Saturday lunchtime, it looked even more chaotic.
After changing into my work uniform in the changing room and coming out, I saw the others sitting in the waiting room.
“…Hello.”
Ha Seorim looked at me and greeted me with a nod.
There was a certain distance in her manner.
She had always been like that, but just when it seemed she’d been softening lately, the strange atmosphere had returned.
“Oh, hi.”
I returned the greeting appropriately and sat in an empty seat.
“You’re working this shift too?”
“…Yes, for the time being.”
Come to think of it, I was, too.
The third-years had all quit their part-time jobs long ago. Apparently, they were having trouble finding new people even though they were hiring more.
“Ngh.”
Since the shift change would be soon, I stretched in advance. If I didn’t do it now, I probably wouldn’t have time.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
It was about time to head out.
I stepped out of the waiting room for the shift change.
…….
Three p.m.
By moving nonstop, I’d somehow reached that time already.
The customers had gradually thinned out, and a relatively quiet period had arrived.
‘……They said the kiosk was coming in tomorrow, right?’
I hoped it would arrive soon.
It seemed even more grueling when the orders kept piling up at the counter.
“Phew…….”
Just as I let out a long, exhausted breath,
— “according to. ~ ‘according to’”
An unexpected English word reached my ears.
I turned my gaze toward where the sound had come from.
Mutter, mutter.
I saw Ha Seorim humming while holding something in one hand.
‘Is she studying? She’s working hard.’
When I raised my head and glanced over, she was clutching a small notebook filled with English vocabulary and diligently memorizing it.
Midterms were coming up soon, so it was the season for studying.
“……”
A quiet silence continued.
I awkwardly shifted around, then glanced over toward the kitchen.
I saw Kim Boyoung, a year younger than Ha Seorim, and Ahn Hyunsu, who was the same age as her, organizing ingredients.
It felt awkward to talk to Ha Seorim.
Should I go over there and chat with the others for a while?
The dining area had Choi Suhyeon besides Ha Seorim, so it should be fine.
I could help them with the work over there—
“Sunbae.”
“Oh. Yeah?”
Just as I was about to step away, Ha Seorim called out to me.
“If you don’t have anything to do, come help me organize the inventory in the stockroom.”
— “Whew.”
Ha Seorim’s Minimi sat atop my head.
When had it climbed up there?
— “…The moment I look away, he tries to hit on a girl.”
The Minimi shook its head.
This felt a little unfair.
Kim Boyoung was a girl, sure, but Ahn Hyunsu was a boy, wasn’t he?
Still, I couldn’t exactly argue with the Minimi.
“Okay.”
I nodded.
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(!Signboard!)
(There’s an illustration if you scroll down!)
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Part-Timer Ha Seorim