Chapter 88
* * *
“···.”
Isol kept looking down at her phone.
She couldn't properly accept the situation unfolding before her.
Understanding and empathy were two entirely different matters.
Isol read the message that had arrived, then read it again, and again.
“Ah···.”
After reading through it like that, she finally let out a short breath.
‘Nuri and Seungho?’
Her nerves, which had been lying slack, had long since gone taut.
‘A family trip?’
Isol suddenly clutched the blanket covering her.
What an enviable situation.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped her. It was absurd.
This really was a coincidence.
It wasn't something anyone could have intended. It was nothing more than a stroke of pure, unexpected luck.
It wasn't something she could imitate.
“···.”
Isol slowly sat up in bed.
What might have happened between the two of them at their vacation destination?
The thought bothered her so much that she couldn't keep still.
—Thud, thud.
Then she stopped in front of the mirror.
“···.”
Her reflection appeared in the mirror.
Her hair was tousled, and her shabby pajamas hung loosely off her.
She looked exactly like someone who had just woken up.
“Ah···.”
Isol wiped around her mouth with a trembling hand.
Had she been taking it too easy just because it was vacation?
She looked terrible.
She looked downright disheveled.
‘This won't do.’
Isol sprang to her feet.
She had become far too self-satisfied just because she'd watched one movie and gone to an ice rink.
It was negligence.
After all, neither Shin Ayoung nor even Ji Nuri was an easy opponent.
‘In my current state···.’
She would definitely fall behind.
They were absolutely not opponents she could afford to let her guard down around.
“Phew···.”
Isol braced both hands against the mirror and leaned her face close to it.
Even the one advantage she could consider almost her only real strength—her appearance—
wasn't much of an advantage in this situation.
Of course it wasn't.
‘The two of them are pretty too···.’
Appearance was relative.
Even compared to her, the two of them weren't far behind.
No, in some other respects, they might even···.
“···.”
Her gaze naturally drifted downward.
“Ugh.”
Isol could only bite her lip in frustration. Her hand clenched into a fist.
‘Something···.’
She needed a change.
More than anything, it was time to take one big step forward.
She had already thought of something.
It was an issue she had been debating for a long time.
“···.”
Isol set her worries aside for the moment and went out into the living room.
She saw her mother sitting on the sofa, reading a book.
As Isol hovered around her,
“Do you need some allowance?”
her mother asked.
Isol shook her head vigorously.
“No, it's not that···.”
“···.”
Her mother set the black tea she had been drinking on the table and straightened her posture.
She looked as though she was preparing herself mentally for something.
“···Is there something you want to say?”
she asked cautiously.
“···.”
Isol fell silent for a moment.
‘Let's ask.’
No matter how she thought about it, that seemed right.
There was no one else she could ask.
Besides, she felt her mother would give her the most honest answer about something like this.
‘Yes, let's ask.’
Just once.
It was something she could ask, after all.
Isol drew in a breath and spoke.
“Mom. What would you think if I cut my hair short?”
At that,
“···.”
her mother blinked several times.
“···Sol, what are you talking about?”
* * *
“···.”
I was standing blankly in front of a convenience store near the subway station.
Bzz— Bzzz—
The cicadas were making an awful racket.
I even found myself wondering whether those insects were noise incarnate.
Slurp, slurp—
This time, the sound came from the opposite direction.
Slurp, slurp, slurp—
It was the sound of Ji Nuri and Shin Ayoung eating ice cream.
“···.”
Today was the counseling club's trip.
That was why I was with them.
We had planned to meet at our destination, but the second-years had decided to go together since they were heading there anyway.
“It's hooot···.”
Ji Nuri had finished her ice cream before I knew it and began to whine.
I couldn't really blame her.
‘···It is hot.’
It felt even hotter than last week. It definitely seemed to be summer now.
— “Sol's laaate···.”
Shin Ayoung's Minimi checked her phone.
The truth was, we'd simply come out earlier than the appointed time.
If I'd known this would happen, I should have left a little later.
Speak of the devil.
“Seungho···!”
Just then, I heard Isol's voice.
I turned around happily, and
“Oh.”
I froze with my head raised.
I was a little surprised by Isol's appearance.
The other two reacted much the same way I did.
Their faces were blank with astonishment.
“What? You cut your hair?!”
Ji Nuri jumped in surprise and raised her voice.
“It was long when we went swimsuit shopping together!”
“I didn't cut it. It's a wig.”
Isol answered calmly.
“Oh, really?”
“Mom stopped me. She told me to try it once before cutting it.”
No wonder—her hair, which had been closer to gray, now looked a little closer to silver.
So it was a wig.
“···Nothing happened, right?”
Ji Nuri asked with concern in her eyes.
“···.”
Isol looked at Ji Nuri, then
“Yeah.”
nodded.
Somehow, her answer came a little late.
“It's nothing. I just wanted to try changing it for a change of mood.”
Isol lightly brushed down her hair.
She kept sneaking glances this way.
“···Why? Does anything look strange?”
“It looks good. It suits you.”
I nodded.
She definitely gave a neater impression than before.
Anyone could tell she took good care of herself. She had a model-like air about her.
“···.”
At my answer, Isol gave a small nod.
— “What a relief···.”
Her Minimi let out a sigh of relief.
“···Shall we go now?”
We had been so surprised by Isol's change that we'd forgotten to move.
We still had quite a long way to go.
We had to take the subway, transfer to a bus partway there, and travel all the way to where the valley was.
“You took your motion sickness medicine, right?”
I turned to Isol. I was asking just in case.
“Ah.”
— “Ah.”
At the question, Isol and her Minimi both shuddered.
— “I was so focused on fixing my hair···!”
Her Minimi trembled like a rattling car.
‘I had a feeling that would happen.’
I let out a hollow laugh inwardly.
Bad premonitions always came true.
Good thing I'd brought some along, just in case.
“Here.”
I took motion sickness medicine from the bag over my shoulder and handed it to Isol.
When Isol saw it, her eyes went round, and
“···Thank you.”
she accepted it with a small smile.
Even with her appearance changed, Isol was still Isol.
People didn't change easily.
* * *
Screeech—
We got off the bus.
“I think this is the place···.”
I looked around and was left speechless.
This really was the countryside.
Grass, trees, and dirt underfoot.
From here on, a mountain path stretched on and on.
“Looks like we have to walk from here.”
I checked the map app.
It seemed we had to keep going straight up this way.
— “···I don't wanna.”
— “···Ugh.”
Isol hated walking.
Ji Nuri, who was vulnerable to the heat, wore the same grim expression.
“Come on, it's not much farther.”
Shin Ayoung was perfectly fine. If anything, she encouraged the other two.
Perhaps because she exercised regularly, she followed behind me with energetic steps.
······.
“Are we still far away?”
Isol trudged along unsteadily.
“We're almost there.”
“···You said that earlier too.”
“This time, I really mean it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
I jerked my chin toward the front.
“Oh, guys!”
Senior Minji waved to us as she put up a tent.
She came running over with excited steps, then
“Oh, what?!”
raised her voice when she saw Isol.
“Sol, you cut your hair!”
“She says it's a wig.”
“Oh, really?”
Despite Senior Minji's fussing, Isol calmly nodded as if it were nothing.
It was a stark contrast to how she had fidgeted uncertainly just moments earlier.
Instead, she spun around, showing off her appearance.
Senior Minji happily applauded her antics.
“···.”
As I watched the scene with some bewilderment,
— “Hehe, she'll be surprised, right?”
a Minimi's voice drifted over on the breeze.
“Hey, Lee Seungho!”
Grab—!
I reflexively reached out and caught the approaching arm.
Just as I was about to tighten my grip,
“Hey, hey! It's me. Me!”
a hurried voice rang out. I immediately loosened my grip.
It was someone I knew.
“Wow, you can't even take a joke anymore. You've gotten really big since then. You've been well, right?”
The man rubbed the arm I'd caught as he greeted me.
“What are you doing here, hyung?”
I gave him a delighted smile.
“Yuna came too. Ah, there she is. See her?”
“Oh? You really did.”
Tug, tug—
Just then, I felt a hand pulling on my collar.
“···Who is he?”
Isol whispered with an awkward expression.
“Ah···.”
Come to think of it, they didn't know who he was.
I formally introduced him.
“Say hello. He's last year's counseling club president.”
“Hi, I'm Kim Jiho.”
“““Hello.”””
The trio each bowed their heads in a different voice.
I turned my gaze toward Kim Jiho.
“By the way, what brings you here?”
“Why else? Your club president called me over.”
“What?”
“You need an adult supervisor if you're going to use fire as you please, right? And it would be awkward to call your parents.”
Ah.
That was true.
I understood the situation at once.
“I'll go on a date with Yuna over there. You kids can have fun among yourselves. Just call us when it's time to eat.”
I stopped moving for a moment at his words.
“···Wait, are you two dating?”
“Ah··· Yeah, um. That's how it happened.”
He nodded with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“Oh. Well, have fun.”
Perhaps he was embarrassed to say anything more. He left as if fleeing.
He walked quickly.
“What was that?”
I stared at the back of his head with some bewilderment.
“Senior Minji, did you know?”
“No, I found out today too.”
“Really?”
“I never thought the counseling club's jinx would continue like this.”
Senior Minji crossed her arms and let out a short laugh.
“···Jinx?”
Ji Nuri showed interest in the story.
“Huh? You guys didn't know?”
“You never told us.”
“Did I not?”
Scratching her head, Senior Minji continued calmly.
“It's nothing major···. The counseling club has a jinx that the president and vice president end up together.”
It was probably a fairly old story.
The former president.
In other words, when the senior who had graduated was a first-year.
Apparently, the president and vice president at that time had gotten together too.
“I thought it had ended with the previous pair, but I guess not.”
The former president and vice president hadn't dated before graduating.
If anything, they had been on rather bad terms.
“I really had no idea those two would start dating···.”
“Exactly.”
Senior Minji nodded.
Her eyes grew wistful, as if she were recalling a fond memory from the past.
“They spent the whole year fighting whenever they got the chance.”
Perhaps they had developed some fond attachment from all that bickering.
They went to the same university, and I never expected it to lead to this.
As expected, no one could know where life would take them.
“···?”
Just then, I heard a Minimi murmur.
When I turned around,
a strange atmosphere was already thick in the air.
— “Ah···.”
Shin Ayoung, who wasn't in the counseling club, darted her eyes around in embarrassment,
— “···Vice president.”
Isol curled her lips into a faint smile.
— “Are they going to make me vice president? That sounds like a hassle···.”
and Ji Nuri continued worrying about something that didn't concern her.
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(Short Wig ver1)
(Without Wig ver)
(Short Wig ver2)
(Short Wig ver3)