No Knives in This House!!
I let out a long sigh. “Ugh… I’m gonna die.”
In both hands I carried plastic bags so heavy they felt like the crushed souls of shopping carts had taken up residence inside them.
Of course Seo Eunha hadn’t lifted a finger, and asking anything of Lee Sia was basically impossible.
“What are you doing?”
As I stepped inside and started unpacking, I spotted Lee Sia in the entryway, arms spread wide, waving them around like she was conducting an invisible orchestra.
“I was measuring the angles for where I might sleep. For someone who lives alone, your entryway is surprisingly spacious. Still, the shoe cabinet looks too narrow to fit inside. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I could curl up hugging your shoes and breathe in your scent while I—”
“Song Chaeeun, I won’t say a word about the two tubs of ice cream you made me buy, so just drag Sia over here.”
“Uuu…”
Lee Sia let out a pitiful little whimper, as if she’d done something to deserve praise, while she was hauled over.
Once the groceries were put away, I lifted Seo Eunha’s legs—still busy shoveling ice cream into her mouth—and laid out the futons.
“You two are sleeping in the living room?”
“Well, there’s no other option, is there?”
“…Do whatever you want.”
She really was a exhausting girl.
Even so, with the soft glow of the lights, the neatly spread bedding, ice cream and snacks, and a movie playing on the TV, the atmosphere somehow turned into a strangely cozy campsite.
“Are you really sure it’s okay for me to take the sofa? If you sleep on the floor and strain your body, Yujin-nim…”
“Just what exactly do you think a normal person is?”
“E-ehehe…”
“Then I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“No you won’t!”
“Just go ahead and flirt, you two. I’m going to bed.”
Seo Eunha made no effort to hide her irritation before stomping off into her room, leaving only me and Lee Sia in the living room.
The faint light from the streetlamps wrapped around the space. The usual quiet of bedtime was now mixed with another person’s breathing, and it felt strangely unsettling.
“Yujin-nim… are you asleep?”
“No.”
Honestly, every time Lee Sia opened her mouth I felt a spike of anxiety.
I never knew which landmine I might step on next.
“That cousin of yours. She’s a villain, isn’t she?”
The voice that came slicing into my ears wasn’t the usual timid, self-loathing tone. It was sharp, almost predatory.
“No.”
“I’m sorry. I overheard a little of your conversation. I can’t sense any villainous energy from her, but the way she destroyed that shopping cart… that’s not something an ordinary high schooler could do.”
When Lee Sia sat up, her eyes caught the streetlight and glowed a deep crimson.
“…What are you planning to do?”
“I have to get rid of that cockroach clinging to your side. Right now, I could slit her throat and—”
I lunged forward and grabbed her wrist in a panic.
What kind of bloodbath was she trying to start in my house?
“Are you trying to kill her because she’s a villain? Or because you’re afraid she’ll hurt me?”
“Both. A villain will eventually devour your life, Yujin-nim. She needs to be cut out before that happens.”
At least with Sia, my words actually worked.
She always folded so easily.
“Yes, she is a villain. But she has her reasons. She may be a walking headache, but she’s a child I chose to take in.”
“……”
Lee Sia said nothing.
What was she thinking?
“You’ve already been corrupted by that villain, haven’t you?”
Damn it!
I ignored her accusation and stepped in front of her as she moved toward the bedroom door.
“Move aside.”
“I can’t. The reason I saved that girl has nothing to do with her being a villain. I took her in because she was hurt, because she had wounds in her heart. If you kill her, then I’ll have no reason to keep you here either.”
“……”
Creak.
“Who’s killing who?”
“Song Chaeeun!”
“It’s all out in the open now, so what’s the point of hiding it? Just call me Seo Eunha.”
At some point Seo Eunha had come out and was now leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, glaring at Lee Sia.
Even in the darkness, her blood-red eyes and Sia’s ruby gaze shone clearly, reflecting each other.
“Ahjussi, move. She looked like she’d listen to every word you said, but she’s already talking about killing me. She spent all that time rolling around like a dog for the Magical Girl Management Bureau and still has such filthy habits?”
“A mere villain daring to leech off Yujin-nim’s kindness and parasitize him. Creatures like you are nothing but cockroaches devouring Yujin-nim’s life just by existing. Atone with your death.”
Seo Eunha raised one hand. Lee Sia leveled her stick.
I had to do something.
“Both of you, stop!”
I spread my arms wide, planting myself between them.
As an ordinary person I could get blown away in an instant, but if I backed down now this house was guaranteed to be demolished.
I had nowhere else to go.
“Sia. You think she has to die just because she’s a villain? Then kill me too. I’m the one who brought her in. I’m the one who hid her even after knowing. Start with me, her accomplice.”
“T-that’s… that’s because that cockroach brainwashed you, Yujin-nim…”
I didn’t miss the way her eyes wavered. I grabbed her by the shoulders.
“You said you heard me, right? I don’t want to lose anyone else in front of my eyes because of my own mistakes. Even if that person is a villain. No— what I picked up wasn’t a villain. It was a wounded child.”
When I saw her stick disappear, I turned toward Seo Eunha.
“You too, Eunha. You said you’d become my summer. You said you’d give me ordinary happiness. You getting hurt is the opposite of my happiness.”
Seo Eunha’s eyebrows twitched.
She glared back and forth between me and Lee Sia for a long moment, then clicked her tongue and lowered her hand.
“Fine, clearance sale. I’ll let it slide this once for Ahjussi’s sake. But if you disturb my sleep again, I won’t hold back.”
“I’m sorry, Yujin-nim. Even if the other party is a villain, I should have accepted her for your sake, yet I acted on my own and dared to judge—”
“Alright, alright. Let’s all go to sleep now, okay?”
“I want rolled omelets tomorrow.”
With that, Seo Eunha disappeared back into her room. Lee Sia’s shoulders slumped.
At least it was settled for now.
“Come on, let’s get some rest. It’s the weekend, but we walked around a lot today. You must be tired.”
Truthfully, I was the one who was exhausted.
Not physically. Mentally.
Lee Sia came over to the sofa but didn’t lie down. She just sat there.
“Yujin-nim… are you angry with me?”
“Of course not. Actually, I was happy you were thinking of me.”
“Eep…”
Lee Sia hid her face in the blanket and gave a faint, bashful smile.
“Can I ask you for just one thing?”
“Yes?”
“Please speak casually to me. You saved me. You took me in. It feels wrong for you to keep using polite speech with me.”
The reason I’d always spoken formally was out of fear that she might suddenly leave.
Just like that girl from summer who had vanished without warning.
I’d kept the distance on purpose, but if it was Sia… maybe it was okay.
“Uh… sure. Okay.”
“Hehe…”
What was so great about it? I was dying of awkwardness right now.
“By the way, how old are you?”
“Ah, yes! I’m twenty-five.”
So there was a three-year gap.
“…Twenty-two.”
The face that peeked out from under the blanket was filled with surprise, and a faint glow began to spread across it.
What? Why did that make me nervous?
“Twenty-two? You’re three years younger than me?”
“Yeah. Uh, yep. Do I really look that old?”
“Ah, no no! That cockroach… I mean, since Seo Eunha called you Ahjussi, I assumed you were a youthful-looking older man.”
Well, that made sense. Han Yeeun called me Oppa, but Sia had never seen her.
I hadn’t even finished my military service yet, and I was already getting called Ahjussi at this age.
Come to think of it, how old was Seo Eunha anyway? Suddenly I was annoyed with her.
“Oh my… oh my my my my…”
Suddenly lost in her own little world, Sia covered her face with both hands and began twisting her body back and forth.
“There was the Ahjussi title, but you seemed so dependable I thought you were older… but you’re actually three years younger and yet you looked at someone like me—a pathetic loser—with such mature eyes and took me in…”
“Sia? Sia-ya?”
“Yujin-nim… was actually a younger man…”
She clearly had no intention of listening to me.
Her self-esteem had been scraping the floor, then she’d been ready to slit a throat with murder in her eyes, and now she’d flipped straight into lovestruck maiden mode. She was keeping herself very busy.
“A younger man three years my junior… with that mature face, scolding me, ordering me, disciplining me… this, this is cheating…”
“No no, I wasn’t scolding you, I was trying to calm you down—”
“Yujin-nim… Yujin-ah… Ah!”
While muttering to herself, Sia suddenly flinched, shot upright, and headed for the bathroom.
“Where are you going?”
“I-I dared to call Yujin-nim without any honorific… I must wash this filthy mouth of mine with bleach. This insolent mouth deserves punishment—”
“Please stop, it’s fine! I didn’t even hear it! Just lie down already!”
I panicked and yanked her hand. We both tumbled onto the futon together.
“Telling me to lie down already… my heart feels like it’s going to explode… so what I truly wanted was forceful submission after all…”
I was pretty sure that wasn’t the same kind of submission she was imagining.
“How many times am I going to have to come out of my room tonight? Why don’t you just get your own room?”
Seo Eunha glared down at us with an openly irritated expression.
“Hey, clearance sale. Ahjussi said we’re not allowed to kill each other, but a little catfight should be fine, right?”
Sia’s shoulders drooped for a second, but before I could scold Eunha, she lifted her head proudly.
“A brat like you wouldn’t understand! The sacred thrill of being with a younger man!”
“Ha? This used-goods bitch…”
“Enough! One more word and neither of you will exist tomorrow morning. Sia, calm down. And Eunha, that was too harsh.”
I shoved the grumbling Seo Eunha back into her room.
Apparently picking fights with magical girls was just her passive skill.
After finally confirming that everything had gone quiet, I turned on a photo from two years ago.
[Son Seoyeon & Han Yujin]
Is this what ordinary happiness looks like, Seoyeon? I miss summer…