Only You in That Place
I thought that was the end of it… but Nari called me soon after.
I never imagined that phone would ring with her number again.
Of course, I didn't pick up. I know myself too well… if I answered, I'd only get dragged back into it.
It wasn't as if this was the first or second time something like this had happened to me. I knew myself better than anyone. I wasn't the kind of person who could be that decisive.
So I left the phone face-down on the desk as it kept ringing… and waited for Nari to give up.
Honestly, I couldn't even understand why she was clinging this hard. What, was she planning to dig up some excuse later if I really hadn't paid her?
No matter how I turned it over, nothing else made sense.
I mean… she was the one who'd made this situation, wasn't she?
She was the one who'd betrayed me like that — so why was she throwing a fit the moment she saw I actually meant to end things for good?
A fit might be overstating it… but looking at it another way, maybe it wasn't that much of an exaggeration either. The missed-call alerts had already passed ten.
Wasn't this what she'd wanted in the end? For things between us to finish like this. And for Nari, this was the perfect revenge, wasn't it? She'd gotten the money, and… ah. Of course, we'd passed the first round of judging, so that part probably stung a little.
At last, the phone that had been rattling my desk into a frenzy went still.
Only sixteen calls, huh. Well… back then, I'd gone past twenty. Nari gave up faster than I had.
It seemed like that was the end of it.
It was late by then, time to sleep, so I went into the bathroom, took a shower, and came back out.
I felt clean. And that clean feeling didn't seem to come from the shower alone.
I was roughly toweling my hair dry with the dryer when I muttered to my reflection in the mirror, careless and flat:
"Well. Probably for the best."
Back in the club room with Nuna and me. There had been a brief upheaval, but this — this felt like what we were supposed to look like all along.
I leaned on her now, and she took me in as I was.
This was the direction I'd grown in. I'd been betrayed in more relationships than I could count, but if through all of that I'd managed to find someone who was truly on my side, then maybe it was all right in the end.
"Nuna… from the second round of judging on, we're going to need a new illustrator."
"Yeah. Nari's gone now…"
So instead of stewing over it alone, I chose to think it through with her. That choice felt natural now.
"So for now I'm thinking of picking up a part-time job… which means I might not be able to come to the club every day."
"Hmm… how much is it going to cost? I'm making this game with you, so of course I should chip in too."
"I knew you'd say that the second I brought it up. But I'm not taking your money."
"Why not?"
"Part of how we got here was my fault to begin with, and… I told you I wanted this game to be a gift for you. Who pays for their own present, right?"
Nuna seemed to think it over for a moment, then nodded. Thankfully, she seemed to accept the reasoning.
I had my own kind of greed, too. The greed of wanting to do this for her through my own effort, without holding my hand out to her if I could help it.
Of course, effort alone wouldn't guarantee success. The world wasn't some movie overflowing with romance.
If it came to that, I'd talk to her again. When I'd thrown myself at it alone and decided it still wasn't enough — that was when I'd ask her for help.
At the very least, I wanted to try standing on my own first.
"But are you sure? It feels like you're pushing yourself too hard, Minjae…"
"I want to try hitting the wall myself first. I'll do everything I can, and if it still looks impossible… I'll come talk to you again. I know it might look a little ridiculous — talking big and then ending up asking you for help anyway — but please don't tease me for it…"
"Of course I won't. That just means you'll lean on me when things get hard."
Then, suddenly, she stopped what she was doing.
"Minjae, come here a second?"
"Huh?"
I thought something had gone wrong and she needed me to check it. But when I went over with that in mind, she sat me down beside her and gently stroked my hair.
"You're something else. My Minjae. I'll be here cheering you on while I wait."
When she suddenly did something that intimate… I genuinely didn't know what to do with myself. And yet it felt good. The warm touch of her hand combing through my hair felt so good.
So that was why she'd called me over.
My heart started hammering. I was flustered… being treated this gently made me so flustered it almost hurt.
Which meant I had to work even harder. If I was going to receive support like that from her, I had to answer it with something worthy of it.
That was what my days looked like lately. I threw myself into running through each one, drawing motivation from the promise that I would repay her no matter what.
That said, I still hadn't found a part-time job… which was a real problem. I'd never worked one before, so there was no guarantee I'd even pass an interview.
Carrying that worry the whole way, I was heading home.
I'd passed through the main gate, said goodbye to Nuna, and walked a few more steps when someone casually grabbed my hand and yanked me back. I nearly jumped out of my skin and spun around.
"Minjae—!"
It was Seoa. From the look of her, she'd come running from a long way off. The way she was gasping for breath made that clear enough.
"You scared me… what are you doing here at this hour?"
"Waiting for you, obviously."
She looked up at me with a smile like a mischievous kid. I was glad she looked bright, at least.
I took the hand that was still holding mine and lifted it.
"What?"
"Stay still."
Then I pushed up her sleeve and checked her wrist. Thankfully, nothing new had appeared since last time.
"Good… what the hell is this, seriously? These are going to take forever to heal. They're going to leave scars on clean arms, too…"
There were no new cuts, but the ugly ones still sitting there made my chest ache, and the words came out sharper than I meant them. Maybe because they looked like wounds I'd made myself.
The scolding tone softened toward the end. It occurred to me too late that I might be coming down on her too hard. She was the one who had it worst, after all.
"Are you worried about me?"
"Ha… is there anyone who could look at this and not be?"
"I said, are you worried about me~"
"Yeah."
I answered the stubborn question flatly. I was worried — that much was true. No reason to hide it.
Seoa giggled and slipped her arm through mine, linking us together.
Then she rested her head lightly against my shoulder.
"But it's so mean… you say things like that when you don't even like me."
"……You don't have to like someone to worry about them, do you?"
"I won't do it again. You told me not to, so… I won't. So when these scars are all healed, I hope you'll come back to me."
No matter how far my feelings for Seoa had drifted… when she clung like this, I couldn't help but be aware of it. Especially when she said she wanted me to come back.
So before my heart could get any more unsettled, I hastily changed the subject. The Seoa beside me now was just a friend, after all.
"Have you… ever had a part-time job?"
"I have. Why? Looking for one?"
"Yeah… I'm trying to find one right now."
"Me too! I want one too. Let's do it together. I need a job anyway!"
Seoa looked up at me with eyes so bright they seemed to shine.
Do it together…? I wasn't sure that was a good idea. Seoa liked me. And I knew it. Spending time working side by side under those circumstances… it would look like I was stringing her along. And Nuna would probably hate it too.
"Ah, it's not… definite yet. I haven't even found anything. Nowhere that fits…"
"Really? I'll find one. There's a place I used to work — the owner's friendly with me, so he'd take both of us."
"F-for real…?"
Ah… this wasn't right. The second she said she'd find me a job, I took the bait without thinking. That was how desperate I was for work. At this rate, I wasn't even sure I could land one on my own… but if what Seoa said was true, I'd have a job handed to me on a plate.
Her words sounded like a devil's whisper, and I nearly fell for them — but I caught the thread of reason just in time.
"I'll ask Nuna first."
"Who? Lee Sebin?"
"Yeah. I like Sebin Nuna. So I think I should ask before working with you."
"……."
Seoa quietly unlinked her arm from mine. Her expression dimmed a little. Well… just from that reaction, asking Sebin Nuna first looked like the right call.
It couldn't have been welcome news for Seoa either. But there was nothing to be done about it. We'd already gone our separate ways.
"Okay. Go ask."
"You sure you're fine with that?"
"Yeah. I already told you just being by your side is enough."
She said it as if she weren't particularly shaken, but I could tell. She was forcing the words out.
Ah… maybe I was using her feelings, and that didn't sit well with me either. She'd said she was fine, sure, but still.
I'd ask Nuna first. From now on, I could just leave every decision to her. If she said no, then so be it — I simply wouldn't do it.
The next day.
I was on my way to the club room to ask Nuna if it was all right to work a part-time job with Seoa.
Someone called my name along that path.
Honestly, in this engineering building, there was no one left who'd call my name besides Seoa, so I flinched hard.
And a deep male voice like that was even rarer.
"Congrats. You guys passed too, huh?"
That was enough to place him. This was the guy who'd tried to take Nari away from me. It hadn't exactly been a pleasant meeting for either of us, so why was he talking to me like nothing had happened?
That struck me as odd.
I figured I'd give a vague answer and leave for the club room. I didn't have anything to say to him. We weren't friends.
Then he glanced past me, fidgeting, drew a deep breath, and shouted someone's name at the top of his lungs.
"Yu Nari—! Get over here. You said you'd do the talking—!!!"
What… why was Nari suddenly—
At the sound of it, I turned my head in the direction he'd been looking. And there, far off, Nari was walking toward us, hesitant and awkward.