You're the Bad One (5)
It was two in the morning.
For all of Sowon's bold resolve, there was nothing of the calm-before-the-storm about the scene. Philin was wholly absorbed in treating Junhyuk's addiction symptoms and nothing else.
Sowon forced her drooping eyelids open and stared hard at the broken left horn.
Today was the chance. With that horn damaged for whatever reason, this was the perfect opportunity to break the magic binding Junhyuk. The moment she fell asleep, Philin would surely pull some trick.
She would not sleep. She would keep watch to the very end. Sowon made that vow and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand again and again, yet—
“Uung…. Snhhrrk!”
Without realizing it she was already spouting ridiculous sleep-talk. Philin watched, let out a soft sigh, and offered,
“If you're that tired, just sleep now.”
Already scheming. I knew it. Sowon snapped her eyes wide and growled.
“Hmph. Don't look down on me like that. I can overcome something as trivial as sleep anytime.”
“Fine. Do as you like.”
Acting nonchalant while fretting inside, no doubt. Sowon thought of killing time on her phone and reached into her uniform skirt pocket, then lightly shook her head.
If her gaze got stolen by the phone, who knew what Philin might do! Knowing almost nothing about demons or mental attacks, she could not afford even a moment's gap in her vigilance.
But fatigue was far too powerful an enemy for vigilance alone. Eventually Sowon's head drooped again.
“Snnnrrk….”
This time drool even flowed. As a drop of saliva was about to touch her uniform skirt, Philin finally shouted.
“Hey!”
“Uhek?! Snnrk….”
Only after wiping the drool with the back of her hand did her face flush hot with embarrassment. Showing such undignified behavior in front of that horned fox was utterly humiliating. Coming all this way to save Junhyuk only to fail even at staying awake—she felt pathetic.
Then Philin spoke.
“Lim Sowon.”
“Yes?”
“Come to think of it. How did you get here? Why are you here at this hour?”
Sowon flinched at the question. She had plenty of justifications, yet felt guilty for no reason. The words I came to watch because I knew you'd show up like this rose to her throat, but she swallowed them and gave a rational answer.
“I'm the grade representative. If I put my mind to it, I can look up home addresses anytime. A classmate who didn't come to the Academy today and isn't even answering calls—can't I come check?”
“True enough.”
“What about you, Miss Philin? How did you know to come here? At this hour, no less.”
To answer, Philin paused the treatment briefly, pulled her phone from her uniform pocket, and showed the call history.
“Junhyuk called me, so I came in a hurry. I learned the house address the other day when I took him home after he got drunk.”
“Took him home after drinking…. Don't tell me you two?!”
Looking quite shocked, her face turning bright red, Sowon didn't even glance at the call history and pressed on. Philin shook her head as if fed up and retorted.
“You really don't look the type, but surprisingly all you have in your head is sex?”
“S-sex…?! Please don't use such vulgar words!”
“That's what you were implying. Anyway, I just laid him down at home and left.”
“And I'm supposed to believe that?”
“Do I have to cry to prove my purity? If you can't believe it, just assume we had sex.”
“Sex…. Miss Philin!”
Ears bright red, Sowon scolded her in a small voice, but Philin merely shrugged and let the complaints go in one ear and out the other.
Strictly speaking Philin was not in a completely confident position, so she dug into Sowon's weak point again, and the strategy worked. At any rate Sowon decided not to press that point further. As Philin said, there was no proof she had simply left—but likewise the idea that the two of them had slept together was pure speculation.
Another layer of unease piled up in her chest. Yet Philin seemed to take the exchange as the conversation opening up and brought up a new topic.
“Lim Sowon. How did you live before entering the Academy?”
She was about to answer obediently with “I…,” then hastily shut her mouth. What if knowing detailed personal life stories was a condition for activating magic? Maybe Junhyuk had carelessly talked about himself and—
Thinking that far, Sowon rejected the suggestion in a cold tone.
“I don't particularly want to tell you.”
“…Is that so. If you don't want to, well. Can't be helped.”
Surprisingly withdrawing without any tricks made it suspicious in its own way. Just what was it? At what point and how did she use magic? With nothing certain, it was frustrating enough to drive her mad.
As she fretted inwardly about whether she was handling this well—
“Then listen to my story a bit.”
“…Miss Philin's story?”
Another scheme? Like a cat with its fur standing on end, she tensed every nerve to refuse. But—
Knowing what kind of person Philin was might be very important for the silent battle ahead. And setting all that aside, she was simply curious.
“H-hm…. If you really want to talk, I'll specially listen. But don't get the wrong idea that I'm curious or anything.”
She accepted the proposal while pretending maximum disinterest. Philin smiled a bored little smile and began.
“You see, I was a rather useless person.”
Hoping it wouldn't just be a boring tale of growing up loved in a pretty excellent demon family, Sowon's snide inner expectation was nicely off the mark.
Three children born to a prosecutor father and a lawyer mother. The awkward second child sandwiched between the excellent eldest and the brilliant youngest. The sense of alienation and loneliness from being ignored by parents and siblings.
“Too boring?”
Seeing Philin's faint smile, Sowon said without realizing it—
“It's not boring.”
Because that smile looked so lonely. Sowon was not cold-hearted enough to spit harsh words at that face. And for good reason.
“By that measure, I've lived a boring life too.”
“Huh…?”
This time Philin seemed flustered and let out a sound. She had probably never expected that Sowon, who looked every bit a princess, would have twists and turns she could call a “boring life.”
“A prosecutor father and lawyer mother…. Demon lives aren't that different from ours.”
“Eh?!”
It had been a murmur of appreciation, yet Philin was far more surprised than before, eyes wide. Even Sowon was seeing for the first time the girl who had remained calm in any situation so far visibly agitated like this.
Why's that? Sowon tilted her head.
I made a mistake. But I couldn't believe I'd made such a mistake myself.
I should have vaguely summarized Philin's parents, Philin's family environment, and Philin's family. Yet even while talking I had no such awareness.
I completely failed to distinguish between myself and Philin.
At some point the possessive “Philin's” had been completely replaced by “my.”
It was a huge relief that Sowon didn't suspect much. As grade representative, it seemed she hadn't pre-checked family relations just to test me.
But whether a blessing in disguise, Sowon began calmly laying out her own story—the one she hadn't easily brought up earlier.
“I had no life of my own. Until I met Junhyuk.”
The life hidden behind Sowon's glamorous exterior was as desolate as mine. At that young age, how much must her heart have been hurt, enduring everything she wanted to do, eat, or dislike, moving only by her parents' will. Having lived an unrecognized life myself, I fully empathized with that suffering.
If only someone had been by my side at that moment. Someone who boosted my self-esteem and sometimes understood my weaknesses—how wonderful that would have been.
And if that someone by my side suddenly left without warning.
Would I have been able to endure it?
The existence who became hope for Sowon and led her to live an independent life was none other than Yeom Junhyuk. For Sowon, who didn't know the concept of routes, he had been like her savior—only for him to switch overnight to another girl. An absurd situation.
Yet Sowon still hoped for a day when she could face Junhyuk and smile again.
Should someone like me be wedged between those two? Of course, I had gotten wedged in regardless of my will to some extent.
Serena's words were right. I needed to firmly set my course.
I would support the two of them.
“Lim Sowon. Tomorrow evening, come alone. You'll still need various kinds of support.”
“Suddenly, what do you mean….”
“I'll help you.”
Perhaps because it was completely unexpected, Sowon looked troubled, not knowing what expression to make.
“You were the one who asked for help in the first place.”
“Well, that's true, but….”
“I'm not anything to this guy. Really. So I'll help make it work. I'm serious.”
Still dumbfounded and unable to continue, Sowon suddenly widened her eyes and sprang up from her seat.
Almost at the same moment something hot started trickling from my nose.
“B-blood!”
“Looks like I need to rest a bit now.”
Having nosebled once before, it wasn't that surprising anymore. But Sowon hurriedly fetched tissues from the bathroom and carefully wiped my nosebleed.
It was awkward to use my hands while focused on treatment, so it was fortunate she hurried to keep my clothes from getting ruined.
“Thanks.”
“Your nose…. Shall I plug it for you?”
The top-class beauty in the city plugging tissue into my nostrils. A bit of a funny picture, but if I didn't roll up tissue and put it in, I would just keep dripping nosebleed. Taking my hands off briefly wasn't impossible, yet as the saying goes about a clumsy carpenter blaming his tools, my treatment skills were pathetic, so restarting would drop efficiency quite a bit. I actually somewhat regretted pausing treatment earlier to show the call history on my phone.
So.
“Yeah. I'd appreciate it if you plug it a bit.”
Sowon nodded and carefully rolled tissue, inserting it into my nose.
As she finished one side and was putting tissue into the other nostril, looking up at me with worried eyes—
An inexplicable sense of pride welled up, and I felt good.