Telecom Points
Screeeech...
After wrapping up a short ride, I returned to the neighborhood. Hyeonji got off the bike and held out her pink helmet with a cool, detached air.
"I'm heading to my part-time job."
"Yeah, it's already three. But where do you work, exactly..."
"None of your business."
"..."
Why was she being so cold again? Hyeonji hung up the helmet with a face full of dissatisfaction and strode off.
Was it because she still couldn't buy the bike she wanted, and the resentment had piled up? We'd settled on me buying it instead and her riding in the back, but that clearly wasn't the picture she'd had in mind.
But shouldn't she also consider my position? I'd sunk a cool hundred and fifty into this for her safety. Of course, in the process I'd been gifted the pleasure of pressing close against Hyeonji's solid frame and feeling like I was riding on clouds, but...
Shake, shake!
What the hell am I thinking? She's a minor. On top of that, she's my daughter's upperclassman at school.
Just putting a kid like that on the back of a bike for a ride was already enough to get me charged with any number of crimes.
And as if that weren't enough, I was sitting here grinning to myself over the fact that a body that had only just finished its secondary sexual characteristics—still legally a child's—had been pressed against me? Was I even human?
I'd clearly been living alone too long and something inside me had broken. How many times did I have to tell myself that just because it was called Saiyan Syndrome didn't mean my essence was still that of a kid?
That aside, looking at the bike that had suddenly appeared left me with a wave of regret. For now I'd just park it in a corner of the lot and pretend it wasn't mine whenever Harin was around.
Bzzz!
In the middle of all that, my phone rang again. Hoping it might be Jinho hyung calling because the coin had finally listed, I checked—and huh? It was someone completely unexpected.
"...?"
It was a text whose intent and purpose I couldn't pin down at all. The last time I'd been in contact with Eunju was last Saturday, after our lunch date when we'd gone to look at the flowers.
If she was asking whether I'd been free today, the answer was clearly no. But that was my business—there was no way Eunju could know whether I'd been busy or not.
"..."
I could stop by, but I didn't particularly want to. Because this was completely different from what we'd agreed on.
Of course I was aware that I still had to meet Eunju "twice" more. But that was purely repayment for the meals—this particular invitation had never been on the schedule.
But what choice did I have? This was all the karma of my past self, who'd freely unleashed the power of Saiyan Syndrome and gone around cosplaying as a high school boy.
Just like Hyeonji, Eunju would contact me for social reasons any number of times. From the start, only keeping the originally scheduled appointments had been impossible.
That meant I needed to firmly erase my presence on this side as well. After confirming the meeting time, I fired up the bike—vrooom!—and headed home.
Jingle!
I stepped into Syndrome right on time at four. As always, it was the same campaign headquarters lineup of Eunju, Wonhui, Mokhwa, and Yuna.
"Whoa~ Long time no see!"
"Ah, oppa, why have you been so invisible lately!?"
Poke, poke!
Having three high school girls welcome me so noisily was actually kind of nice. The one who'd actually summoned me here, Eunju, lifted her head with complete indifference and said,
"You're here, sunbae?"
"...?"
Why had the form of address suddenly switched to "sunbae"? Still, once you'd seen someone you had to greet them, so I raised a hand lightly in reply.
"Yeah, glad you all look well. Eunchae's here too, huh?"
"Eunchae!?"
But the whole group nearly fell over in shock at the name "Eunchae," as if they were filming some hidden-camera prank. Regardless, Eunchae scrunched her Squirtle-like chubby cheeks and greeted me.
"Waaah! Oppa, I saw you earlier, y'know?"
"Y-you saw me? Today's the first time I'm seeing you."
"Woooong! Eunchae left early today 'cause I wasn't feeling good, y'know? I saw oppa going vrooom! on a motorcycle!"
"What did you just say!? What did she say oppa was riding just now?"
Oh shit, when the hell had this kid seen that? I'd been sure everyone would still be at school, but of course she just had to leave early right then.
"Is what Eunchae said true, sunbae?"
Eunju's expression crumpled as she asked. But Eunchae had already seen everything, and I might end up riding it a few more times going forward, so lying was out of the question.
"Well... it just kind of happened."
"Does that make any sense, oppa? Those things are super expensive—who just 'kind of' buys one... I get it! It's because of Harin, right? Harin said she likes guys who ride motorcycles, so you went and splurged?"
"Wonhui? Can we stop with the outdated Harin talk already? I told you that was all because of my friend."
I shot Eunju a look that screamed for rescue. But she not only refused to drop the stern expression from earlier—she didn't say a single word.
"So it was Harin, huh? Well, Harin's super cute, after all."
Come to think of it, Yuna had been interested in me, hadn't she? And now that she thought I'd bought a bike just to look good in front of Harin, she seemed to be quietly giving up inside.
But. That. Was. All. A. Misunderstanding! Then Mokhwa poked in with a comment of her own. Of course I had no idea what she was saying, so Eunchae interpreted for her.
"Waaah! Then oppa met Harin over the weekend, y'know?"
"What are you even... I didn't catch so much as a glimpse of Harin over the weekend, Eunchae."
"Ah, that part's probably right? I think Harin and Thuy went to Seoul Forest on Sunday."
Thankfully Wonhui, the class information broker, immediately provided Harin's alibi. But now Yuna was making a fuss.
"Come to think of it, we should go flower-viewing ourselves sometime, right? This weekend's the peak, so let's drag Timo along and go once, hehe..."
"Sounds good, unnie? Oppa, you're free then, right?"
"Uh... I don't think so? And it'd be more fun if you girls went by yourselves. Having an adult like me tag along would just make everything reek of old man."
"Yuna unnie's going too, so what's this about smelling old? Ah, oppa, what are you so busy with this weekend?"
How should I know!? I couldn't even control Harin, and now a bunch of high school girls were all talking over each other about whatever they wanted—I couldn't keep my head straight.
"Sunbae doesn't seem to want to go with us particularly, so just leave him be. And unnie? We already have separate plans this weekend anyway."
Only then did Eunju step in to mediate. Huh? But what was this about having plans with Yuna over the weekend?
"Ah~ Right, there was the student council camp this weekend, wasn't there? Nearby schools get together for a kind of seminar. We stay overnight and do group activities and stuff, hehe..."
I roughly understood what she meant. Back in my Haeyang High days we'd done something similar.
Except in our case there were no nearby schools at all, so it was just three days of a pseudo-marine boot camp among ourselves.
"Come to think of it, unnie and Eunju said they were camping by the Han River, right? You'll get to flower-view with the officers from other schools there. Ah, what about us, Mokhwa?"
Poke, poke...
This side still seemed not to have managed a proper flower-viewing trip because they'd been busy this weekend. Well, that was their problem to figure out. I quietly took a seat and started watching Eunju's expression.
Stare...
For reasons I couldn't place, Eunju's gaze was cold. Had she been secretly hurt that I hadn't contacted her once over the past two days? Or was it something else...
The two-hour high school girl summit finally ended. Just chiming in with the occasional agreement was enough to drain me, yet these kids—no exaggeration—hadn't let the sound cut out even once for the full two hours.
"Ah, I'm starving! I wanna hurry home and eat."
Wonhui rubbed her stomach as she spoke, as if she'd completely erased the two waffles she'd eaten at the cafe from her memory. Yuna and Mokhwa, who were heading the same direction, left first, and now it was my turn with Eunju.
"Are you heading home, sunbae?"
Eunju turned her head slightly to ask. It was probably the first time she'd addressed me directly since the initial greeting when we met today.
"Uh... I've got some business, so I think I need to head toward Hyeolsan-dong."
"Really? Then with me..."
"What the hell is this!? Why is oppa going that way? Eunju, why are you accepting that so naturally? You two are totally suspicious right now, you know!?"
And of course Wonhui launched into her trademark overreaction. Weren't you just saying earlier that I'd bought the bike to look good for Harin?
"She's right? Why are you suddenly going there, sunbae?"
On top of that, Eunju showed zero intention of helping me and instead demanded I come up with some excuse. In the end I had no choice but to borrow Aunt's power here.
"Haa... The truth is, the aunt I live with runs a shop over there. So I was going to stop by."
"What kind of shop?"
"Well... a little pork cutlet place..."
"That sounds so good! If we follow oppa, can we eat for free?"
"Waaah! Eunchae loves pork cutlets too, y'know!"
Come to think of it, I'd forgotten I needed to send Eunchae home first. But was I crazy? The second I took them there, every one of my past movements would be exposed.
"If you suddenly ask like that, you're putting sunbae in a tough spot. And the closer you are to someone, the more polite it is to pay for what you eat."
Eunju reined in Wonhui and Eunchae with her characteristic composure. I answered the two of them while sweating bullets.
"That place is way too busy to bring you guys along. If I get the chance later I'll pack some up and bring it over, so can you just head home for today?"
After loading Wonhui and Eunchae up with nothing but anticipation, I sent them home. Whew... Now I could finally catch my breath...
"Can we talk for a minute."
"...?"
That turned out to be my private delusion. The moment Wonhui and Eunchae vanished from sight, Eunju spoke in a cold, stern voice. Seriously, why was she so all over the place today?
"Eunju? Are you maybe mad at me about something? You've been a little weird today..."
"You're asking if I'm not mad? You're not seriously saying that, right, oppa?"
"Huh? Now you're calling me oppa again? But just a second ago you were saying sunbae..."
"There's no need to give the others reason to get suspicious in front of them, is there? Anyway, what's going on? You don't contact me once for two days and then suddenly say you bought a motorcycle—how am I supposed to take that?"
"..."
Couldn't she just take it as "oh, okay"? And why did she think I absolutely had to contact her first?
"Well... sorry, Eunju. I'm just the type who doesn't send messages much to begin with."
"I roughly figured that part, but what about the motorcycle? Don't you know how dangerous those are? How do you make a decision that important all by yourself?"
"Uh... of course I completely agree with you that bikes are dangerous. But I never thought of you as someone who knew a lot about bikes. So maybe that's why I didn't bother consulting you?"
"That's not what I mean."
"..."
Then what did she mean? Even Eunju seemed to realize she'd meddled too much; she flushed with sudden embarrassment.
"No, I mean... I'm asking whether oppa never even considered that I might be against it. You already have a car—did you really need to buy that?"
"But it's really just a tiny little electric bicycle kind of thing, so you don't have to worry too much. I'll wear a helmet every single time, and I'll make absolutely sure nothing like what you're worried about happens. I'm really sorry I didn't talk it over with you first. I mean it!"
Honestly I still didn't fully understand why I was apologizing to Eunju here. Buying a bike that had never been in my destiny because of Hyeonji was definitely an irregular event, but what did whatever I bought have to do with Eunju?
If there was a reason I was apologizing more than necessary, it was because a quiet warmth clung to her words. Because all my life I'd only ever been scolded—this was the first time someone had genuinely worried about me like this.
Mom had left home on her own and still held a quiet grudge against me for not even showing up to hyung's funeral. Aunt had looked at me with a mix of love and hate for making her sister suffer.
Everyday life was the same. Harin kept her heart closed and only thought about leaving the house, and at the company I was the punching bag Eom Chaewon made fun of—a total freeloader of a life.
And in the middle of all that, look at Eunju fretting over me like it was her own business just because I'd touched something dangerous. I was so grateful that before I knew it I grabbed both her hands and apologized with everything I had....
Yank!
I got that my emotions had run high after being worried over by a kid, but why grab her hands? Startled, I roughly let go, and Eunju also stepped back in surprise.
"A-anyway, I understand. If you promise to ride safely, I'll believe you for now."
"Honestly there won't be many chances to ride it anyway. If we're done talking..."
"Why didn't you tell me your relative runs a pork cutlet place?"
"There wasn't really any reason to go that far... I was just worried the kids would barge in like earlier and start talking about me. It could end up reaching Harin's ears for no reason..."
"I see... But I've been thinking about that a little. Does Harin really need to stay completely unaware of your existence?"
"Didn't I tell you? Actually Harin and her dad don't get along very well. If she found out he asked me to dig into her, their already paper-thin father-daughter relationship would only get worse."
"Really? Harin always seemed so bright at school—you're saying she has that kind of problem with her parents?"
Did she ever. If I started talking about that, one night wouldn't be enough.
Maybe that was why, before I knew it, Eunju and I had ended up at a nearby park, sitting side by side on a bench.
Huh!? Why was this suddenly turning so serious?
"Why doesn't Harin get along with her dad?"
"Well... her dad was away from Harin for a long time because of work. They haven't actually lived together that long, so they're still kind of awkward with each other."
"How long is 'a long time'... Then you still haven't figured out anything about Harin's boyfriend?"
"Ah! There was a bit of a misunderstanding there. Harin says she doesn't have a boyfriend or anything. There's a guy she likes, but he doesn't seem to have any feelings for her."
"How did you find that out?"
"Hm? Well, as I was digging around for various information... Ah! Come to think of it, Eunju? There's something I wanted to ask you."
"What is it?"
What else? It was time to confirm the answer to the mission Aunt had given me. Unlike Eom Chaewon, who did everything her own way, Eunju would give me a proper answer.
"The truth is, I've piled up a ton of telecom points and got two movie tickets. And since I feel bad toward you, I'm giving you both of them."
"There's nothing you particularly need to feel bad about... Anyway, I'll gratefully accept them."
Eunju nodded as if she understood. But the important part came next. Eunju had so many friends that deciding who the tickets belonged to would be harder than usual.
Who would she try to go with?
"Yeah? Then who are you thinking of going with?"
"What? Oppa, you're doing this on purpose, right? You're asking when you already know the answer."
"Huh? I'm seriously asking because I don't know. If you pick only one between Wonhui and Mokhwa, the other might feel left out."
"That goes without saying, right? Anyway, oppa, what are you doing Thursday afternoon?"
"Me? I don't have any particular plans locked in."
This week's work days left were Wednesday and Friday, so on Thursday I'd probably be home scratching my thighs and flipping through channels. Eunju nodded as if that settled it and answered,
"Then let's go after school on Thursday. It's okay if we go a little far to watch, right?"
"...?"
Somehow the exact same result as when I'd tested it on Eom Chaewon had come out. Why was it that the final ticket's owner always ended up being me?
"Uh... Eunju? Can I ask why you made that decision?"
"Wasn't the whole point of giving them so that you'd end up saying we should go together from the start?"
"No? I was just curious who you'd go with. You said your friends were all no-gos, so..."
"Then in the end the only one left is the person who gifted the tickets, right? You don't have to make excuses, oppa."
"..."
Right. I'd left out the single most important piece of evidence. I should have checked first whether Eunju even had someone she liked.
The reason Aunt had told me to give the tickets to Harin was because she already knew the other person would end up being the crush. But Eunju only saw the prime suspect Lee Jubin as someone who was somewhat useful to her.
In the end, just like with Eom Chaewon, the conclusion had to be "what you're doing is so pathetic I'll go with you once." Huh? Then did I actually have to go see a movie with Eunju?
For the first time in my life I was about to go to the movies alone with a girl. And that girl was my daughter's classmate.