Chapter 128
“……Seungho.”
The awkward tone in which she called my name.
“……”
I turned my head in that direction.
There was no difference except that she was a little taller.
Her voice, curved eyes, hairstyle, and even the air she gave off were hardly any different from the girl I knew.
“…So it really is you.”
Yoo Haneul’s downturned eyes curved into a gentle smile.
— “---------”
Screeeech———
Her minimi emitted a burst of noise as it approached my feet.
The sound didn’t feel like a negative emotion such as anxiety or sadness.
If anything, it sounded like the opposite.
— “----.”
The noise gradually grew quieter.
As she slowly calmed down, the noise faded.
Her minimi looked up at me and gave me a soft smile.
“…It’s been a long time.”
And Yoo Haneul herself wasn’t much different from that expression.
“Have you been well?”
“……”
At that question, I parted my lips.
What should I say?
I’ve been well. Or I haven’t.
What do you think?
All sorts of sentences surfaced in my mind and disappeared. Some were long, while others were cynical responses, but…
“…Yeah.”
I merely gave a short, one-word answer.
I just did that.
I didn’t want to respond emotionally, nor did I have the strength for it.
I only wanted this situation to move on quickly.
“…I see.”
Yoo Haneul nodded. Whatever answer I gave, she probably would have done the same.
She took a step forward, closing the distance between us.
“…Seungho, you’ve gotten really tall. You used to be about my height.”
“……”
“I got taller, too. But boys really do shoot up.”
“……”
“…Have you been working out lately? You’ve gotten really solid, too.”
“…Hey. Yoo Haneul.”
I cut off the one-sided conversation with a short, clipped breath.
“Hm?”
Yoo Haneul looked at me with wide, rabbit-like eyes.
“Enough.”
“……”
Yoo Haneul’s lips abruptly came to a stop.
“…Huh? Enough of what?”
She wore an expression that said she didn’t understand.
I said it clearly once more.
“We’re not the kind of people who can have conversations like this anymore.”
“……”
The minimi’s noise shot up sharply, then—
It cut off with a click—
A silence followed, with not a sound coming from her.
Her lower lip curled inward slightly.
I averted my gaze and pointed toward the front of the store.
“…You came to see Ha Seorim, right?”
“Uh-huh. I did, but right now….”
“Then wait by the front entrance. She’ll come out.”
That was the only reason I could think of for her coming here.
With that, I walked into the store.
“Wait.”
Yoo Haneul’s slender fingers caught my wrist. A cold chill traveled up my skin.
I flinched and clenched my hand—
“…It’ll only take a moment. Let’s talk.”
“……”
“It’s been almost two years since we last saw each other.”
She looked up at me with an earnest gaze.
“Can’t you even do that?”
To answer honestly…
“…Yeah.”
I wasn’t in the mood.
Just running into her here was bewildering enough.
— “Eut….”
At that firm answer, Yoo Haneul’s gaze lost its way and wandered from side to side.
Her eyes shimmered with moisture. She looked as though she had been hurt.
…She really must have been hurt.
Yoo Haneul. That was the kind of person she was.
“……Phew.”
Watching her, I rubbed the back of my neck.
Didn’t this make it look as if I were the one at fault?
“What is it….”
I asked in a darkened tone.
“What are you so wronged about?”
…Second year of middle school.
The point when I had grown close to Yoo Haneul and begun to become fairly friendly with the other kids as well.
That exact point in time.
That was when malicious rumors about me began to spread.
“……”
Rumors like, “I heard he did ~.”
They said I kept changing what I said. That I was kind of weird. That I wasn’t being nice for no reason. There were plenty of others, too.
They were insignificant rumors, but that was why they were difficult to respond to.
They had stressed me out quite a bit at the time.
If Yoo Haneul hadn’t been there, I might not have gone to school at all……
But——
“You were the one who spread all those rumors.”
I felt the fingers resting on the back of my neck tighten.
“And I didn’t even know it was you.”
Even so, Yoo Haneul had calmly comforted me from behind the scenes.
Saying that she alone was on my side.
She had been offering me that absurd kindness.
The reason Yoo Haneul had acted that way was simple.
“…Then what? You expected me to just stand by while the other kids got close to you?”
Yoo Haneul’s chin tilted at an angle.
Her light-brown hair slipped over her downturned eyes.
Her long eyelashes blinked slowly.
There was no guilt or fluster in that expression.
It was pure confusion.
Because everything she did to win a boy’s attention
was, to her, a perfectly justified response.
— “…I just wanted Seungho to look only at me.”
There was only one reason she had acted that way.
She simply wanted to monopolize my attention.
It was that simple.
‘If it weren’t for the minimi….’
I wouldn’t have realized Yoo Haneul’s true nature if it hadn’t been for that.
No. Even after I began seeing minimis, I didn’t notice it for quite some time.
…Because all the comfort she offered was sincere.
Yoo Haneul was that kind of person.
Her affection was twisted in some way.
— “…That’s mean.”
Yoo Haneul’s minimi drooped its shoulders at my feet.
Rather than remorse for what she had done, it radiated hurt at my tone.
“……”
That side of her hadn’t changed.
It was beyond the bounds of normal.
Watching it, I felt the back of my neck grow cold.
That was why I had rejected that confession all the more coldly—
— Creak.
Just then, the back door opened. Ha Seorim poked her head through the opening.
“Sunbae, the changing room’s empty, so you can come in nooow….”
Her words stretched out at the end.
“……Ah.”
Ha Seorim’s eyes darted rapidly from side to side before she let out a short gasp.
After making eye contact with Yoo Haneul, she narrowed her eyes sharply.
— “This is why I told you not to come…!”
The minimi rubbed its face as if washing it.
“…Unni, weren’t you supposed to meet at the station?”
Ha Seorim hurried over to Yoo Haneul.
“Well… I came secretly because I wanted to surprise you….”
She meant that she had run into me by coincidence.
Yoo Haneul gave an awkward laugh.
“I’ll just grab my bag and come out. Let’s go.”
Ha Seorim pushed her toward the exit, as if she no longer wanted to remain in the uncomfortable atmosphere.
“…It was nice seeing you after so long.”
Yoo Haneul gave a light wave.
With that farewell, she disappeared with Ha Seorim.
“……”
In the backyard where the two had disappeared,
I was left there alone.
“……”
Just when I thought I ought to get a grip,
the dizziness rising stealthily kept my feet from moving for a while.
My feelings were complicated.
“Phew….”
A cold wind blew. Thinking I’d catch a cold if I stayed there, I forced myself to move.
“…Manager, I’m clocking out.”
“Oh, good work. You’re not coming in tomorrow, right?”
“No. I’ll be in on Monday.”
“All right, see you next week.”
I picked up my bag and left the store.
“……Ah.”
I stopped the feet that had been naturally carrying me home.
Come to think of it, I had to go to the gym.
I had promised Shin Ayoung.
“……Should I skip just today?”
Maybe because my head was so jumbled, I didn’t feel like doing anything at all.
Let’s just skip today. That should be all right, shouldn’t it?
I should tell Shin Ayoung I couldn’t make it.
I called her right away.
Riiing— Riiing— Riiing—
[“Hello?”]
The ringing stopped, and Shin Ayoung’s voice came through the speaker.
“…Hello? Are you still at home?”
If she had already arrived at the gym, I felt bad, but I would have to ask her to work out alone today.
If she saw my face, perceptive Shin Ayoung would probably notice right away that something was wrong—
[“—Did something happen to you?”]
“…Huh?”
[“No, your voice sounded kind of gloomy….”]
She was even more perceptive than I expected.
How could she tell?
Since it wasn’t something I needed to talk about, I made up a vague excuse.
“Nothing happened.”
[“…Really?”]
Shin Ayoung let it go, though she still seemed suspicious.
[“I’m at the gym right now… Why, what happened?”]
“No, I don’t think I can go to the gym today.”
A brief silence followed those words.
[“…Something did happen, didn’t it?”]
“I told you, it didn’t.”
I quickly denied it.
[“Really?”]
“Yeah.”
[“You’re not sick?”]
“No.”
I was just a little tired.
“Is Seungah there? If she is, tell her she can go home today.”
[…“Seungah didn’t come today. She said she had something really important to do.”]
“…Really?”
She was obviously trying to slack off. It was her periodic escape.
But as someone who was skipping too, I had no room to criticize her.
[“You just finished your part-time shift, right?”]
“Yeah.”
[“Then you haven’t gone home yet, have you?”]
“…I guess not?”
[“Where are you right now?”]
Shin Ayoung said in a gentle tone.
[“Then how about we both skip today?”]
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(!Signboard!)
(There’s an illustration if you scroll down!)
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Yoo Haneul’s minimi