Chapter 31
***
“Ready to take it?”
Far in the distance, Lee Seungho raised his camera.
Since everyone had gathered, someone had suggested taking a commemorative photo.
Jinuri was posing with the other two in front of the “Demon Slayer” statue.
“···.”
She awkwardly raised her index and middle fingers slightly, making a V sign.
She glanced at the other two and saw them posing naturally.
···This is hard.
How was one supposed to pose naturally?
‘That aside···.’
Jinuri smacked her lips lightly.
This had been a chance to find out whether Lee Seungho was one of her kind.
It was a little disappointing.
If he had been, she would have gained someone to have all sorts of conversations with in the future.
···Well, there would be plenty of chances to ask him later.
She could look forward to next time.
Click— Click—
After taking pictures for quite a while like that.
Lee Sol tilted her head slightly and asked.
“···How’s your stomach?”
“It’s okay now. I feel a little better after taking the medicine and resting?”
The medicine really was effective.
To think her symptoms would ease right away just from taking it once.
Come to think of it.
“How was Dotendo World? Was it like what they say on NewTube, like stepping into a game?”
Even though they had enjoyed something else.
She still regretted not being able to go to Dotendo World.
Jinuri was curious about all sorts of things concerning it.
“Hmm··· It was fun enough.”
Lee Sol’s expression was more subdued than expected.
Maybe it hadn’t been to her taste after all.
Normally, she would have excitedly rattled off everything she had done.
Her reaction was oddly off.
If she had to put it into words, it seemed like her mind was caught up in something···.
“What about you?”
At that moment, Lee Sol asked her in return.
“Me?”
“Yeah, what did you two do?”
“Well, we didn’t really do much···?”
“Hmm. I see?”
“Yeah, we couldn’t go on the attractions because of my condition anyway, so we mainly looked around at shows. But those were pretty fun too—”
Jinuri’s voice trailed off.
She suddenly remembered what had happened while watching the pirate show.
‘···We chose the wrong seats.’
The image of Lee Seungho, who had stretched out his arm and gotten splashed by the water, came to mind.
“···.”
Jinuri’s eyebrows twitched.
Ah.
···It wasn’t as if nothing had happened.
It had just come to mind—something like that had happened.
She had been so distracted by the anime that she had completely forgotten that Lee Seungho might like her.
At Jinuri’s brief silence.
“···Hmm?”
Lee Sol’s expression tilted strangely.
Jinuri quickly continued.
“···It was really fun, so I thought it would’ve been nice if you’d watched it with us too, Sol.”
She glossed over it for now.
She couldn’t just blurt that out, could she?
From Lee Seungho’s perspective, it was still supposed to be a secret.
“Really?”
Lee Sol only looked puzzled for a moment and didn’t seem particularly suspicious.
“I’m done taking them. Want to come see?”
“Yeah.”
Lee Sol started walking at Lee Seungho’s voice calling from afar.
Her steps grew somewhat lighter.
Jinuri narrowed her brow slightly when she saw that.
“···.”
···No way.
Had Lee Sol secretly been disappointed that she couldn’t hang out with me?
“···Cough, cough!”
Lee Seungho coughed violently. Some of the drink he had been drinking sprayed out.
Apparently, it had gone down the wrong way.
Shin A-young was startled and patted him on the back.
“You okay?”
Jinuri looked at him and shook her head.
He needed to be more careful.
He wasn’t a child, so how did he choke while drinking something?
“···.”
Lee Seungho merely nodded silently.
“It came out well.”
Jinuri nodded in satisfaction as she looked at the photo.
Now that they had taken pictures.
“Let’s have dinner, then go watch the parade.”
Jinuri took the lead with a light, happy gait.
***
······The final stretch passed quickly.
The day at Universal Studios came to an end, and the last day of the school trip flew by.
In fact, they hadn’t really done much.
As always, they ate breakfast.
They took a group photo at the Sky Building, then rode the Ferris wheel and took in the city at a glance.
After lunch and some final shopping, they headed to the airport.
On the plane, everyone fell asleep, utterly exhausted.
“···.”
···We finally made it.
And so, we set foot in Incheon. As expected, there was something reassuring about being back on home soil.
After checking everyone’s headcount one last time.
“You all enjoyed your school trip, right? Get plenty of rest today, and I’ll see you at school next week.”
The teacher, looking tired, dismissed the students right away.
Shin A-young quietly approached me as I sat on a chair.
“How are you getting home? Or do you want to split a taxi N ways with us?”
“My mom said she’d pick me up. I’ll probably go by car.”
“···Really?”
Shin A-young crouched down and began rummaging through the trunk.
— “It should be around here···. Ah, here it is.”
While I watched for a moment to see what she was doing.
“Seungho~”
I heard a familiar voice calling my name.
When I turned my head, I saw someone in the distance lightly raising a hand.
“You’re here? You got here quickly?”
She had said it would take a while, but she came quickly.
Mom looked me up and down.
“Did you have fun? Nothing hurts?”
“Yes.”
I noticed another presence behind Mom.
“···What are you doing here? Why did you come?”
I opened my eyes slightly wider when I saw her.
Lee Seung-ah. My little sister had come along.
“Mom said we were going out to eat.”
Ah.
Figures.
There was no way she would have come along willingly.
Honestly, if there hadn’t been a reason, it would have been even creepier.
“···Are those your friends?”
Lee Seung-ah asked, stealing a glance behind me.
“““···.”””
When I looked back, the three of them were standing there awkwardly.
All of them seemed uncomfortable at the sudden face-to-face encounter.
Among them.
— “Wait, what?”
Jinuri’s mini-me’s eyes were darting around.
— “No wonder he was so natural around us···. Was he just used to being around girls that pretty?”
She looked back and forth between Mom and Lee Seung-ah, letting out a groan.
She was making a huge fuss about how pretty they both were.
···Were they really that pretty?
Whatever.
I left Jinuri to it and introduced my family to them.
“This is my mom, and this is my little sister.”
“Hello, are you Seungho’s friends?”
“···Hello.”
Mom welcomed them with a smile, while Lee Seung-ah dipped her head slightly.
The first of the three to move was Shin A-young.
“Hello. I’m Shin A-young, and I’m in the same class as Seungho.”
She bowed with a genial smile.
At some point, she had reverted to her model-student mode.
“Is this pretty girl one of Seungho’s friends?”
“Oh, no, not at all~”
Shin A-young waved her hands and looked away bashfully.
— “Heheh. You have a discerning eye.”
Her mini-me puffed out her chest and shrugged smugly.
On the outside she denied it, while inside she was thinking exactly that.
“It’s nothing special, but··· it’s a souvenir.”
Shin A-young held out a box of digestive medicine. It was the medicine people said you should buy when you went to Japan.
So that was what she had been taking out of her suitcase—she must have been looking for a souvenir she could give them.
“Oh, you didn’t have to···.”
“I’ve received so much help from Seungho.”
“Ahem, ahem. In that case···.”
Mom verbally protested, but happily hugged the gift to herself.
She wasn’t the type to refuse something someone was giving her.
Jinuri and Lee Sol introduced themselves next.
“I’m Jinuri, and I’m in the same class. And this is···.”
“···.”
Lee Sol stepped forward with stiff movements.
She had been like that during exams, too.
She was fine at first, then sometimes suddenly became extremely tense.
“Hello. I’m Lee Sol, and···”
The ending of her sentence stretched out.
— “···Wait, what’s a good way to greet them···?”
Her inner mini-me was mouthing the words.
“It’s nice to meet··· you···.”
Perhaps she couldn’t think of anything in the end.
She simply bowed her head and finished speaking.
— “···Ah, I’m screwed.”
The mini-me rubbed her face hard.
Mom gave Lee Sol a subtle smile, as though she found her cute.
“Yes, please get along well with our Seungho.”
“Y-yes···!”
Lee Sol nodded up and down.
Perhaps it was unexpected kindness, because her expression brightened considerably.
“Hmm.”
Lee Seung-ah looked around slightly, then fell quietly into thought.
— “···Why does he only have female friends?”
My shoulders flinched involuntarily.
No.
It wasn’t as if I wanted things to be that way, either.
It was just that, after spending time together, these were the only people in my class I could become friends with.
The shock of discovering that someone who looked nice on the outside was actually extremely sinister···.
It was the sort of thing only people who knew could understand.
“···.”
Lee Seung-ah silently looked over the three of them.
She quickly passed over Jinuri.
Her gaze slowed slightly in front of Shin A-young, then.
It stopped dead in front of Lee Sol; she narrowed her eyes, tilted her head, looked back and forth between Lee Sol and me, and then···
“Aha.”
The corners of her mouth lifted slyly.
Her lips curled farther upward, and a faint hint of mischief lingered in her expression.
···Seriously, she was disgustingly quick on the uptake.
What was she planning this time?
“···.”
After rolling her neck from side to side and frowning, Lee Seung-ah
muttered quietly.
“Hmm··· I’m tired from riding in the car. Do we have anything sweet? Like chocolate. Oppa, do you have anything?”
“??”
Oppa?
I got slight chills.
“···!”
Seeing that, Lee Sol’s eyebrows twitched, and she began discreetly unzipping her bag.
···So that was what she was after.
“···.”
Unable to stand watching it, I grabbed Lee Seung-ah firmly by the neck.
“Kek.”
Lee Seung-ah tapped my arm to signal surrender.
“Ah, wait! It really hurts···!”
“Then I grabbed you so it would hurt.”
I grabbed Lee Seung-ah and turned around.
We should get going quickly before this turned into an even stranger situation.
“See you at school.”
“Oh, okay. See you next week.”
Lee Sol waved a small hand.
Lee Seung-ah gave the three of them a knowing smile and said,
“···Then, see you next time. Ladies.”
“···.”
The three of them were slightly stunned by the greeting, then.
Jinuri’s mini-me muttered.
— “···The siblings are both players.”
— “···The siblings are both players.”