Chapter 34
***
Bam-bam-bam-bam— Bam-bam-bam— Good morning—
A noisy alarm blared. Shin A-young opened her eyes to the sunlight filtering through the curtains.
“···.”
She blinked slowly.
When she took out her phone and turned it on, it was 7 a.m. on Monday.
“···Ah.”
After making it through the grueling weekdays and finally reaching the weekend, she had somehow found herself back at Monday in the blink of an eye.
What kind of hellish situation was this?
“···I don’t wanna go to school···.”
Shin A-young pulled the blanket tightly around herself and rolled around on the bed.
Roll, roll.
After rolling from side to side, she stared blankly up at the ceiling.
Maybe this was all a dream.
“Haa···.”
Of course not.
Shin A-young staggered upright from the bed.
“Hwaaam···.”
A loose yawn escaped her.
The living room was quiet.
Her father was still asleep after filming late into the night, while her mother had already left for work.
So she had to make breakfast herself.
“···.”
Shin A-young poured cereal into a bowl out of habit.
After adding an appropriate amount of milk, she sat down at the table. She had not forgotten to bring her phone, either.
What should she watch?
While spooning cereal into her mouth, she browsed through thumbnails on NewTube that looked like they might be entertaining.
“Hmm···.”
Not this one···.
This one didn’t look very interesting either···.
Swipe, swipe— Her finger moved up and down.
— [Shin Jinseop, the ‘Black World’ craze··· What’s it like?]
— [‘Black World’ gaining popularity overseas too—What has captivated them?]
Her finger stopped dead.
Those news stories caught her attention.
“···.”
Shin A-young’s eyelids slowly drooped.
These days, wherever she went, this was all anyone talked about. The drama craze, which she had expected to die down quickly, showed no sign of fading. If anything, people were paying more attention to it as time went on.
‘Black World’ had scored an exceptionally huge hit.
A once-in-a-year blockbuster, if that.
It was definitely something she should have been happy about, but for some reason, she wasn’t very happy at all.
She felt almost nothing.
If only.
“···.”
Shin A-young abruptly shut off her phone.
No, she shouldn’t think that way.
Wasn’t that an incredibly selfish thought?
She felt a little ashamed of herself.
“···.”
She picked up her spoon and ate her cereal. The cereal soaked in milk had already gone soggy.
“···Ah.”
What was wrong with her this early in the morning?
She finished all the soggy cereal.
Then she put the empty bowl in the sink.
After quickly getting ready for school, Shin A-young shouldered her bag.
“I’m off.”
She muttered words no one would hear and left the house.
Tap, tap, tap.
Since she had left early, she was able to walk to school at a leisurely pace.
She saw the sign for Class 2-1 and stopped before going inside.
“···.”
Inhale—Exhale—
Okay, let’s do our best today, too.
After a short deep breath, she carefully opened the back door. The children’s gazes turned toward her.
There were noticeably more people looking back than before.
She had been feeling that even more strongly lately.
“Oh, A-young’s here.”
“Hi, A-young~”
Her classmates greeted her.
“Good morning~”
Shin A-young returned their greetings naturally.
‘···No one’s here.’
Shin A-young looked around the classroom.
It seemed Lee Seungho and the others hadn’t arrived yet.
‘I should’ve come later, too.’
As she was hanging her bag on her desk, a shadow fell over the seat in front of her.
When she looked up, a boy she had spoken with a few times was standing there.
“A-young. I heard you still haven’t watched Black World. It’s good, so why not?”
“···.”
Where had that topic come from this time?
Shin A-young smiled faintly and answered him.
“Uh··· I’m just··· letting it pile up a little···?”
“Ah~ You prefer binge-watching?”
“Yeah, I guess I do.”
Even as she answered, Shin A-young sighed inwardly.
“···.”
This boy didn’t actually seem all that interested in ‘Black World.’
The things he rambled on about were strange, too.
It looked as though he was simply using the drama as an excuse to talk to her.
“Your father’s acting is really good~”
Whether he knew that or not, he continued rambling on about the same topic.
“···Right?”
As she gave him appropriately agreeable responses,
‘What, is she a celebrity? Her parents are famous, yet she’s acting all smug.’
‘Exactly.’
She could faintly hear the girls whispering in the distance.
“···.”
The hand resting beneath the desk clenched faintly.
Her throat felt scratchy.
The whole display was rather absurd, too.
‘···Ha.’
You girls asked me to get autographs for you, too. Looks like you’ve already forgotten that.
What were they so dissatisfied about?
‘···The way I see it···.’
‘Ah, right··· I’m telling you, that’s definitely it···.’
The girls giggled as though they found it incredibly amusing.
They seemed to think she couldn’t hear them. But Shin A-young, who was always conscious of other people’s gazes, could hear every word with crystal clarity.
Don’t pay attention. Wasn’t this something she was used to, anyway?
Even when she repeated that to herself,
it was far from easy.
“···.”
Shin A-young lowered her head deeply.
Her insides churned.
The cereal she had eaten that morning felt horribly nauseating.
***
After a long, long ordeal···
classes finally ended.
Rat-a-tat-tat—!
Shin A-young hurried toward the stairs leading to the east gate.
The top floor, where no one ever came, was her destination.
She looked around, then checked below her again.
Good. No one was there.
“Sssssss—Haaaaaa······!”
She drew in a deep breath and let it back out.
It was an enormous sigh.
“Ah···.”
Even so, once her blood pressure had risen, it showed no sign of coming back down.
···She needed sugar right now.
Shin A-young took out the chocolate bar she had brought with her.
‘Why won’t this open···!’
The wrapper was tough.
Shin A-young tore it open with slightly rough movements.
At last, the chocolate was unwrapped.
······Munch, munch.
As she chewed the chocolate and cursed inwardly, her anger seemed to subside a little.
“Phew···.”
Before long, the chocolate had completely disappeared.
Shin A-young sat on the stairs and narrowed her eyes in silence.
Now that things had reached this point, something came to mind.
Very, very much···
···She was dying to play a game.
‘It’s been a while since I went to a PC bang···.’
Come to think of it, between midterms and the school trip, she hadn’t had much time to go.
One good game would make all her stress disappear···.
An activity where no one would say anything no matter how brutally she trampled her opponent. That was what games were for, and at some point, Shin A-young had begun using them to relieve stress.
“Sss···.”
She was torn.
If she told Lee Seungho, he would probably agree to go right away.
She could just skip drama club by saying she was sick.
‘Okay.’
Shin A-young sprang to her feet.
Now that she had made up her mind, she headed toward the counseling room as quickly as possible.
······
Knock, knock—
Shin A-young knocked and carefully opened the counseling room door.
“Hwaaam···?”
Park Minji, who had been nodding off on the sofa, opened her eyes wide.
“Huh? A-young, long time no see.”
“Haha··· I’ve been a little busy lately···.”
Shin A-young gave an awkward laugh.
Because she was constantly being called away here and there, she hadn’t had time to come hang out in the counseling room.
“Come by more often. You can just drop in to hang out, too.”
Park Minji welcomed her naturally.
“Yes, I will.”
I really should.
This place was better than being harassed by everyone else.
···But.
Shin A-young looked around the clubroom with a puzzled expression.
“···Where is everyone else? I heard they went ahead to do club activities···.”
For some reason, only the club president and Park Minji were in the clubroom.
At her question, Park Minji waved her hand dismissively.
“They stepped out to the store. The snacks were all gone, so they went to restock for now.”
“Ah···.”
I thought it was something serious.
Shin A-young leaned back against the sofa with a much more relaxed expression.
The sofa was incredibly comfortable.
The tension drained from her stiff shoulders, and a soft curve formed around her lips.
···This is really comfortable.
···Not just physically, either. Mentally, too.
For Shin A-young, this place had somehow become somewhere she could calm her mind.
“Is there anything you like? Should I ask them to buy some?”
At Park Minji’s question, Shin A-young waved her hands quickly.
“No, no. I’m really fine.”
“Really?”
Park Minji stood up and moved beside Kim Isu, the club president.
Then,
“Oh, right.”
She clapped her hands softly and suddenly brought up a new topic.
“The drama is really good.”
“···Ah.”
Shin A-young’s expression nearly stiffened, but she quickly brushed it off.
No.
Don’t overreact.
Maybe she was simply talking about a recent topic of conversation.
“The way it cuts off right when it gets exciting··· I don’t usually watch dramas, but I ended up binge-watching all the way through the latest episode.”
Park Minji chuckled as she pointed at the dark circles beneath her eyes.
“You watched it, too?”
“No, not yet.”
Shin A-young shook her head.
In fact, she had watched it, but she didn’t want to talk about the drama.
“Huh? Really? It’s good···. Is it awkward watching a drama with your family in it? I feel like I wouldn’t be able to get immersed either if someone I knew appeared.”
“···There is a little of that.”
Shin A-young nodded as though agreeing.
“I knew it.”
Park Minji slowly added,
“···You know···? If you don’t mind···.”
Ah.
Shin A-young’s shoulders jerked.
When she raised her head, she saw Park Minji fidgeting with her fingers shyly.
Her eyelashes trembled for an instant.
She unconsciously sprang to her feet.
“A-young?”
“···.”
She felt strange.
It was as though the place that had been comfortable until just moments ago had changed in an instant.
Her breathing became subtly uneven.
“···.”
She blinked slowly. Shin A-young herself couldn’t understand what was happening to her.
Her chest simply felt constricted.
I need to calm down a little.
“Um··· I need to use the restroom for a moment···.”
Shin A-young made an excuse that was barely an excuse and hurried out of the clubroom.
She was about to leave.
“Huh, what?”
When she opened the door, she came face-to-face with Lee Seungho, who had been about to enter the clubroom.
Behind him, Lee Sol and Jinuri peeked their heads out while holding bags.
“When did you guys get here?”
He tried to pass by her with his usual indifferent attitude, but
halt—
he stopped for a moment.
“···.”
Lee Seungho tilted his head as he looked at Shin A-young, as though puzzled.
“···Are you okay?”
At the unexpected question, Shin A-young’s eyes widened.
His words struck her in a strangely unfamiliar way.
“···.”
Shin A-young wiped around her mouth with one hand.
Her expression was no different from usual. The bright smile remained in place.
Right. It was an act she had maintained for years. There was no way it would simply fall apart in front of other people.
On the outside, she was always the same.
But.
“Here. Have some of this.”
Lee Seungho held out a can of coffee.
He was treating her considerately, as though he could see right through her.
Perhaps he was the only one who saw Shin A-young not as a celebrity’s daughter,
but simply as Shin A-young.
“···.”
Shin A-young carefully accepted the can he offered.
It was warm.
She carefully pressed it against her forehead.
The warmth from its surface gently untangled the knot forming in her stomach.
···Phew.
Shin A-young relaxed her shoulders and slowly let out an even breath.
notes